Looking Ahead: A Member’s Call to Support Waxahachie's Future

For more than 40 years, Dave McSpadden has been part of the Waxahachie Family YMCA’s story. He first volunteered with a youth baseball program in the early 1980s, back when the Y didn’t even have a building, just an open field behind the school district office. Later, he helped raise the funds that built the facility still in use today.

Now 82, Dave is still here nearly every day. He alternates resistance training and cardio, and he’s quick to tell you he’s not just working out, he’s “training for the rest of my life.” That mindset has carried him through two broken hips, open-heart surgery, and long hours of recovery. “Every one of these events that’s happened, I’ve had a quicker recovery because of the training and the work I do here,” he says. “Someday I hope to have great-grandkids I can roll around on the floor with. It starts here in this building.”

More Than a Gym

For Dave, the YMCA has never been about fitness alone. “This provides everything a membership gym does, but with something extra: community. I’ve made some of my best friends here. We love and support each other, whether it starts with a workout or just a cup of coffee.”

That sense of belonging has kept him invested in the Y’s future. While serving on the Waxahachie Community Development Corporation Board, Dave helped secure city funding for the Cindy Hess Memorial Park project, an early boost that helped get the capital campaign moving. “Anytime you’re raising a major amount of money, you need proof that it’s real and moving before you can go for larger numbers,” he explains. “That support helped kick it off.”

Why Expansion Matters

Over the years, Dave has seen the Y adapt as best it can to shifting needs. Racquetball courts were turned into weight rooms. Pickleball lines were taped onto the basketball gym. At peak times, the building simply feels too small.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement here,” he says. “Just this morning I saw 15 people waiting while two pickleball games were going on. We’ve got people excited and engaged, but we’re making do with space that wasn’t built for it.”

With Waxahachie adding more than 12,000 new homes in the near future, the demand for community space will only grow. “This expansion is about preparing for the future. The new outdoor facility will be a catalyst. People will come, see what’s happening, and realize there really is a YMCA here. And once they see what’s possible outside, it’s going to spark the demand for what comes next inside.”

A Call to Community

Dave believes the capital campaign is about more than buildings. It is about ensuring the Y can keep shaping lives as it has shaped his.

“There are a lot of people that come here with health issues. They don’t always talk about it, but you can tell. I wish more people understood what a special place this is. We’re not just a fitness center, we’re a community. And this campaign is about making sure we can keep serving people, not just now, but for generations.”

For Dave, the YMCA has been a huge part of his life’s journey. Today, he is asking others to invest in the next chapter, so that future generations will find the same strength, friendship, and purpose inside these walls.