This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/23/2022 07:30 AMAfter years of helping others in the field of medicine, Ethan Weiner is still helping, but now mainly as a volunteer. Ethan recently stepped into the role of president of the Valley Shore YMCA to help guide its physical renovation plans and also search for a new chief executive officer to continue the Y’s mission to serve the local community.
Of his new role, Ethan clarifies, “In the Y system we’re called chief volunteer officers. Basically, you’re president of the board and it’s an all-volunteer board. I’ve been on the board for about five years.”
Ethan’s interest in volunteering for the Valley Shore YMCA began as a natural evolution from his love of the water.
“I started coming here to swim more than 10 years ago,” Ethan says. “I was vaguely aware that the Y did other stuff, but I had no clue. I didn’t know what other kinds of charitable programs the Y provided.”
It wasn’t long, however, before Ethan learned about the overall YMCA mission from both his daily attendance to swim and his eventual friendship with then-CEO/executive director Chris Pallatto, who recently left the Valley Shore Y to take a position in the Y’s national organization.
“I got to know the CEO because I would see him about [the facility] a lot, and he asked me if I wanted to help do the planning for the capital campaign, which they were just starting at the time,” Ethan recalls.
Regarding the facilities needs of the Valley Shore YMCA, Ethan says, “It was around 2014 when the older of the two pools just completely failed and couldn’t be repaired. That made [the CEO and the board] consider everything from the ground up about what to invest in and how to improve the physical plant.”
Part of that discussion included whether or not the failed swimming pool should be replaced.
Once Ethan agreed to help the fundraising campaign, “One thing led to another,” he says, and he eventually moved into a board position.
“Last year I was vice-president,” Ethan says, adding with a laugh, “Which is kind of like being the vice-president of the U.S., you really don’t do that much. Then, this year, I was slated to become president.”
It’s a very eventful time, Ethan notes, with the COVID pandemic still lingering and the prior CEO leaving.
“We don’t have a CEO right now,” Ethan laments, “but we are happy for Chris Pallatto. He got a very senior job with the YMCA national organization. He was a superb CEO whose shoes will be difficult to fill.”
The departure of Pallatto is also a personal loss to Ethan, best summed up in his comment: “He became a good friend over the years.”
While the local Valley Shore YMCA will now have a friend at the YMCA national organization with the promotion of Pallatto, Ethan knows the board remains tasked with keeping up the operational excellence right here at home.
“Individual YMCAs are independent organizations, but we have to maintain strict standards in many areas to be allowed to remain affiliated,” Ethan notes. “The national organization supports us in many ways to help assure that their high expectations are met.”
Ethan is also thankful for the silver lining concerning the progress of the fundraising campaign. The new fitness center was slated for a soft opening by press time.
“On the plus side, the capital campaign is finally paying off and we’re opening up a brand new fitness center,” Ethan says. “[We have] all state-of-the-art equipment, and the place is light and airy when before [the fitness center] was down in the basement. We have a lot of things going on.”
The Valley Shore YMCA was first built in its present location on a 26-acre site on Spencer Plains Road in Westbrook, in 1975, and it has undergone prior expansions and renovations in 1985 and 2001, according to the written history provided on the organization’s website.
Under the current renovation, the Valley Shore YMCA is not expanding its footprint.
“We are reusing that old space from the defunct swimming pool,” Ethan explains. “We are down to one pool, and we filled in the other one. That makes for a very large room because it was a 25-yard pool with a nice vaulted ceiling. We put windows in so it makes a nice large airy space where weights can be in the same place as the aerobic equipment, so it’s a modern, opening-looking space, where before it was a bunch of different rooms.”
The capital campaign has also raised money to refurbish all the locker rooms.
“The family locker room was a makeshift thing that was put in, so that will be all made modern and be a dedicated space,” Ethan says, adding, “Then, as time goes on, we will consider other projects as well. We’re still in the process of raising funds. We are almost at goal, and when we are, that will leave other options open” for additional renovation or expansion projects.
No stranger to volunteerism, Ethan’s other volunteer efforts have been directly tied to his medical career. He’s served on the board of Gaylord Hospital for about 11 years.
In his professional career, Ethan was a practicing physician at the University of Connecticut, and he also spent 20 years conducting clinical research at Pfizer. For the past 12 years, Ethan has consulted at various companies in the area of clinical research.
Today, Ethan also volunteers at the Ledge Light Health District, which serves the communities of Southern New London County.
“Most of the towns in Connecticut get together in a region and they share a common health district,” Ethan explains, “which saves them money and gives them economies of scale.”
Ethan says he’s about 50 percent retired these days “and I make my own hours,” which allows him to swim at the Valley Shore YMCA at the time of his choosing, versus the years when he was working full time and swimming at 5 a.m.
While Ethan loves the vitality of volunteering, he also says, with a laugh, “It keeps me out of my wife’s hair.”
Like others, Ethan says he’s looking to the end of the COVID Pandemic.
“I used to love to travel and take pictures,” he says, “but I haven’t been on an airplane in over two years now. I’ll probably get back to that in the near future.”
The Valley-Shore YMCA is located at 201 Spencer Plains Road in Westbrook. For more information, call 860-399-9622 or visit vsymca.org.