Our Y changes name to CORE SRQ

After more than a year under new ownership, Our Y will rebrand itself as CORE SRQ. 

In July 2019, Sarasota YMCA officials announced both the Frank G. Berlin and Evalyn Sadlier Jones branches would close due to financial hardship. Almost immediately, a grassroots efforts to save the branches came together. 

Leaders of the effort, called Save Our Y, worked for eight months to pull together enough money to purchase the branches for $4.4 million. 

In March 2020, the group renamed the Sarasota YMCA to Our Y. Now, it will be called CORE SRQ. 

In a letter announcing the change, CEO and Board Chair Marc Schaefer said the new name encapsulates the group’s multifaceted community nonprofit mission. 

“Our organization represents so many diverse offerings and programs, but ultimately, we are at the center, the CORE of the community,” the letter states. “As the Latin word cor stands for heart, our name may be different, but our heart remains the same.” 

CORE SRQ will host a two-year celebration at noon Sept. 17 to highlight what the organization has accomplished in the last two years.