T. Boone Pickens Donates $5 Million to the Dallas YMCA           
Downtown Dallas YMCA to be Renamed T. Boone Pickens YMCA           


(Dallas)  The YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas announced this morning a $5 million gift from the T. Boone Pickens Foundation.  In honor of this gift, the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas will rename the Downtown YMCA as the T. Boone Pickens YMCA.  On hand  to make the announcement was T. Boone Pickens, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, Garrett Boone and Gail Madden, Co-Chairs for the YMCA Strong Kids Capital Campaign and Gordon Echtenkamp, YMCA President/CEO. This gift is the largest gift the Dallas YMCA has ever received and moves the Strong Kids Capital Campaign to $26 million or 84%  of $31 million campaign goal.

A long time supporter of the YMCA, Pickens’s original company, Mesa Petroleum was among the first companies in America to institute a corporate wellness program.  In the late 70’s, Pickens bought all Mesa employees memberships to the YMCA.  His catch to the membership however was, “use it or lose it”.  Pickens, now 80 years old, is still committed to personal health and fitness with a rigorous daily exercise program.

This tremendous gift will create a new and modern place for the Health Seekers in downtown businesses to work out and also a place for the individuals and families who are part of the expanded residential population moving into condos and apartments in the revitalized downtown residential community.  The gift will not only change the name of the YMCA but it will change the face of the YMCA in the midst of the booming Arts district in Downtown Dallas.  The YMCA, located at the corner of Ross and Akard will undergo extensive renovations which should be complete in the late 2009.

		L to R Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, T. Boone Pickens, Gordon Echtenkamp and YMCA Strong Kids Capital Campaign Co-Chair Garrett Boone bike their way through this morning’s press conference at the Downtown YMCA
L to R  Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, T. Boone Pickens, Garrett Boone, YMCA Strong Kids Capital Campaign Advisory Chair, Louis Beecherl, Gordon Echtenkamp and Gail Madden, YMCA Strong Kids Campaign Co-Chair are on hand for the newly named T. Boone Pickens YMCA.