Studer Community Institute

Kugelman family joins donors for new YMCA

March 19, 2015
/ Staff Reports
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Philanthropic-minded Pensacola famlies continue their support of an effort to raise money to build a $16 million downtown YMCA. The latest donors are the Kugelman Family Foundation, which committed $150,000 to the cause, YMCA officials announced. The gift is given in the spirit of giving back that is the family legacy, begun with the late Jack Kugelman. “We’ve always felt as a family that we were very fortunate to have something to give,” Jane Kugelman said. “I like giving, and I always have.” The family sees giving as a way to support local nonprofits and to sustain their family’s legacy. With a family of four daughters, the name would otherwise die out, Jackie Kugelman said. Giving is a way to build up the community and keep the Kugelman name alive in Pensacola, she said. Four generations of Kugelmans recently gathered at the family matriarch’s home in East Hill to express their support of the Y and their love of community involvement. “My grandfather wanted to give locally because he was so proud of Pensacola,” said Jane Lauter, granddaughter of Jack and Jane Kugelman. She said the family’s gift to the Y was a natural fit because the organization’s goals go hand-in-hand with those of the family’s foundation. “For us, it was about how the Y gives back to the community,” she explained. “There aren’t enough opportunities for children to participate in all that the Y does. We love how the Y speaks for Pensacola.” [caption id="attachment_8352" align="alignright" width="450"]

The gymnasium of the new downtown Pensacola YMCA, which faces Intendencia Street.[/caption] The new YMCA will be the centerpiece of a six-acre, mixed-use redevelopment project on the former Pensacola News Journal property at Intendencia and Tarragona streets. Quint and Rishy Studer are the owners of the property. The Studers donated the land for the new YMCA and a starter gift of $5 million toward construction of the newY to replace the outdated, cramped current location on North Palafox Street. The YMCA will be across Intendencia Street from a $50 millionredevelopment project that will bring apartment, retail and office space to the property where the PNJ building now sits. Groundbreaking on the new facility is set for later this year, with opening planned for late 2016. Y Board chariman Jon Kagan said the Kugelman gift is another example of the widespread support for the project. Kagan said that the Y is about 75 percent of the way toward its goal for the new branch. "We are especially grateful for this gift and hope it will inspire other philanthropic families in the area,” Kagan said. Northwest Florida is served by the downtown, Northeast, and Pullum Branches of the Y. Annually, the local Y reaches more than 12,000 children and adults in wellness, childcare, sports, camp, aquatics and community outreach programs.

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Kugelman family joins donors for new YMCA

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