Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 10-16-2026: Heather Grobe talks fall events at the Dixon Family YMCA

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Talk Line 10-16-2026: Heather Grobe talks fall events at the Dixon Family YMCA · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey there, waking crew. As promised, your second dose of
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: TalkLine this morning. I'm joined in the booth once again
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: by our good friends from the Dixon family, YMCA, Heather Grove,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: making her way in the studio. Already running around this morning,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: such a busy lady, making sure things are going smoothly.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And she's here to talk about a lot of stuff
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  Speaker 1: going on. It's been a busy time of year, and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: it never stops for the Y, does it, Heather? It doesn't.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: We've always got something... something new or a new season
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: of something starting. So it always seems hectic, but it
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: keeps us going.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it keeps you going, and it keeps the people
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and the kids even more importantly busy, which is soccer
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and basketball starting and going to be taking over.
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  Speaker 3: I know I've been dropping my kiddos.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Off for school basketball early in the morning, but thankfully
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I'm already up at that hour. But you guys, yeah,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you've got a couple of these coming up.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so our soccer season just wrapped up last weekend
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: with their tournament. It seems to have went well. We
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: had beautiful weather for the last day, and so we
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: got that all wrapped up for the season. Boys basketball
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: is just kind of in the beginning phases here, so
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: we've got a coaches meeting coming up, and then practices
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: will be starting, and we plan for games to start
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  Speaker 2: early November, and that runs until about Christmas break for
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the students, and then girls basketball first second grade through
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: fifth grade will start shortly after Christmas break. So they
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: kind of run back to back around the holidays there.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: And then we do bitty ball for the little kiddos, February,
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  Speaker 2: March timeframe.
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  Speaker 3: Bitty ball is adorable. It's so fun. Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's all a lot of fun. I miss when my
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: kiddos were that little. So now I always laugh. They
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  Speaker 1: want to ride and they want food and They know
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  Speaker 1: we love them, so that's about it. They'll come over,
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  Speaker 1: they'll give you a little affection, and it's like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: now go away. Don't embarrass me.
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  Speaker 2: When they start to be nice, you're like, what do
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  Speaker 2: you want?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Like, what's going on here?
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  Speaker 1: But most kids, especially this weekend, or not this weekend,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: excuse me, this Halloween season, are going to be wanting
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  Speaker 1: to do trick-or-treating. And, of course, you guys always provide
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  Speaker 1: an option over.
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  Speaker 3: At the Y. We do.
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  Speaker 2: So Thursday, October 29th from 5 to 6 p.m., we
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  Speaker 2: do our outdoor trick-or-treat event. So we have local groups, organizations,
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  Speaker 2: businesses come and set up a table. They can hand out,
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  Speaker 2: you know, candy, toys, small items. They can also hand
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  Speaker 2: out any promotional materials that they might be using. And
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  Speaker 2: we usually see about 200 kids come through that. And
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  Speaker 2: it's just a nice little time to get together and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, revisit some of our kiddos that we haven't
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  Speaker 2: seen in a while.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, everybody gets to see each other.
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  Speaker 1: It's a nice, safe space for the kids to go,
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  Speaker 1: get to hit multiple stops. I mean, how do you
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  Speaker 1: like that, kids? You don't got to walk six blocks
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  Speaker 1: to hit the same number of stations that you're going
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  Speaker 1: to right there. So, I mean, it's a win-win for everybody.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's nice. We do it in our north
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: parking lot at our North Galena facility, so right across
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  Speaker 2: from McDonald's, right on the corner of Boyd and North Galena.
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  Speaker 1: And you mentioned community groups and businesses with spots. Do
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  Speaker 1: they still have time to get on there?
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  Speaker 3: Are you guys full?
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  Speaker 2: No, we've got plenty of space. So if there's any groups, clubs,
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  Speaker 2: high school clubs, adult service clubs, anything like that, organizations
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  Speaker 2: or businesses that want to get out there and get
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  Speaker 2: involved with a trick-or-treat event like this, they can just
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: give us a call at the Y. They can ask
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  Speaker 2: for Heather, and then we'll get them on our list.
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  Speaker 2: There's no charge for them to participate. They just provide
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  Speaker 2: whatever it is they're going to hand out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there you go. Be a part of the community.
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  Speaker 1: Help with the kids and get your name out there.
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  Speaker 1: So that's a great thing. And then swimming, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I love that because I was a big swimmer growing up.
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  Speaker 1: I've taught all my kids to swim. I was the
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  Speaker 1: natural swimmer for some reason. I was always daring. I
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: promised you I wasn't going to get on a tangent.
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  Speaker 1: There's swim lessons everywhere. I won't, it's a story for
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  Speaker 1: another day, but point is swim lessons. If you've not
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  Speaker 1: taught your kids to swim, maybe you're not.
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  Speaker 3: A great swimmer.
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  Speaker 1: You don't feel comfortable doing that. The Y provides that.
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  Speaker 1: And it's something that's very important. Even if you don't
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  Speaker 1: think your kid's, you know, going to be somebody who's
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  Speaker 1: a famously huge swimmer, it's just an important skill to have,
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  Speaker 1: I really think.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got, our swim lesson model is, has just
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  Speaker 2: been revamped. So our aquatics director has gone through trainings
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  Speaker 2: with Y of the USA to make sure we're aligning
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  Speaker 2: what we're teaching with current YMCA standards. And there's really
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  Speaker 2: more than just learning how to swim as a skill.
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  Speaker 2: It's learning about water safety, how to be around the water,
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  Speaker 2: how to be in the water, how to be observant
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  Speaker 2: of the other people in the water with you. And
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  Speaker 2: that starts as early as infant age with our parent-child lessons.
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  Speaker 2: And again, that's just building that comfort level and getting
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  Speaker 2: used to being in the water. And then we have
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  Speaker 2: preschool lessons and youth lessons. So Those run on a
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  Speaker 2: monthly cadence and you can enroll. We probably early next week,
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  Speaker 2: we'll have the next month. So November swim lessons open
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  Speaker 2: for registration right now. They've they're being held on Saturday mornings.
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  Speaker 2: But we hope to at some point, if those are
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  Speaker 2: all running at capacity, then maybe open up some weekday
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  Speaker 2: options as well.
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  Speaker 3: There you go.
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  Speaker 1: Get them in, get them started early. It's I love swimming.
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  Speaker 1: I've always been a big fan. So it's been one
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  Speaker 1: of my favorite activities. God, yeah, we would spend like
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  Speaker 1: all day in the pool. And you know, it's something
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  Speaker 1: about kids like now I couldn't do it. But you
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  Speaker 1: could spend all day long, your mom would have to
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  Speaker 1: peel you out of that pool.
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  Speaker 2: I saw some kiddos a couple weekends ago, it was
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  Speaker 2: maybe 70. And they're swimming in their backyard. And like,
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  Speaker 2: it's probably a heated pool. And as an adult, I'm like,
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  Speaker 2: what are you doing? But as a kid, I'm sure.
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  Speaker 2: I would have been doing the same thing, given a
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  Speaker 2: sunny day.
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  Speaker 1: In the fall.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and my kids would be like heated or not like,
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  Speaker 3: it's okay. I'm like, that's insane.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not cold and my lips are blue.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't care. They just want to swim. You
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: guys also have corporate memberships available. Everybody thinks of memberships,
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  Speaker 1: you think of the typical type, but there's corporate memberships available.
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  Speaker 2: We do. So corporate memberships are something that we've always
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  Speaker 2: kind of done, but we've really refocused on getting that
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  Speaker 2: out into the community. It's a way for... us to
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  Speaker 2: build up our membership base. It's a nice benefit for employees.
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  Speaker 2: So businesses in Dixon or the surrounding area can buy
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  Speaker 2: into what we call a corporate membership. There's a $ 250
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  Speaker 2: annual fee and that fee then allows any of their
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  Speaker 2: employees a 20% discount off of membership. So that looks like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if a family membership is $ 67, that's a
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  Speaker 2: pretty decent savings each month. just for the employer. And
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  Speaker 2: there's no limit to the number of employees. So if
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  Speaker 2: you're operating a business with 20 employees or two employees
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  Speaker 2: or 100 employees, there's no limit to that. We recently
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: just connected with Dixon Public Schools actually as our most
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  Speaker 2: recent corporate partner. And so any employee of Dixon Public
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  Speaker 2: Schools at any level is able to come into the
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  Speaker 2: Y and receive a 20% discount off of their monthly membership.
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  Speaker 2: And then that opens up program discounts and different things
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  Speaker 2: along those lines. And then also just access to the facility.
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  Speaker 2: So the classes and programming that's included with membership is
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  Speaker 2: now included in your corporate membership.
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  Speaker 1: It's a nice perk to be able to offer your employees,
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  Speaker 1: kind of helps you stand out and you know they
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  Speaker 1: appreciate it. And when people, when their mental and their
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  Speaker 1: physical well-being are aligned, it just, it improves every other
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  Speaker 1: area of your life and including your employment. So it's
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  Speaker 1: really a worthwhile benefit for the company as well as
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  Speaker 1: the employee.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we also offer, we've also connected with Discover Dixon.
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  Speaker 2: So anyone who's an investor with Discover Dixon and a
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  Speaker 2: member of that organization, then they receive a lesser registration
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: fee or enrollment fee for that corporate membership. So then
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  Speaker 2: it's $ 150 for the annual fee. So you're looking at
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  Speaker 2: $ 150 a year, 20% off of every employee's membership every month.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a small investment to let your employees know
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  Speaker 2: we appreciate you and your health and we want you
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  Speaker 2: to be active and be involved in the community.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Anything else you want to share this morning, Heather?
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  Speaker 2: No, I think that's about it. There's always stuff coming
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  Speaker 2: and new things happening. So you can head over to
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  Speaker 2: find us on Facebook or our website. Our interactive schedule
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: on our website is updated almost weekly. So that's where
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  Speaker 2: you can always find the latest of what's going on.
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  Speaker 3: Awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Well, thank you for coming in and for all the
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  Speaker 1: hard work you and everyone do at the Y to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that there's, you know, good.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just, you know, about the facility.
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  Speaker 1: The facility in itself is awesome and the programs, but
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  Speaker 1: you guys do so much, whether it's the programs, the classes,
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  Speaker 1: the community events, these types of things, you know, that
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  Speaker 1: businesses are able to offer their employees these kind of partnerships.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all are always working on something, always improving something.
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  Speaker 2: We're trying.
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  Speaker 1: So I thank you, and I know I won't see
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  Speaker 1: you again until November, so happy Halloween.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you.