The Westport Y kicked off its fundraising campaign for the new Mahackeno building this afternoon, on the steps of the soon-to-be-former site.
Cherry blossoms framed the scene for speakers like Bill Mitchell, Robin Tauck and Sam Gault — whose families have been Y members since before “y” was a member of the alphabet — but the most interesting moment was a factoid casually tossed out :
The Y is Westport’s 4th largest private employer.
Who knew?
And who knew the 3 that are bigger?
(Bridgewater Associates, Terex and MetLife.)
One more intriguing factoid:
Construction of the new Y will create 175 jobs — for 2 years.
And renovation of the current Y into a retail/commercial/residential complex will create dozens more.
The Westport Y’s tagline is “We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities.”
They should add “strong economies, too.”