How did October come upon us? Leaves are changing, nights are cooler, and homecoming games are happening. Fall is here.
This week, we celebrate the birthday of the one, the only, Dr. Cal Fercho. He turns 99. He is still going strong. He has lunch at the Fargo Country Club regularly, he is very sharp having a conversation with my wife last week about our time in Wisconsin and continues to impact our YMCA through gifts and celebration of all the YMCA does.
I remember moving to town seven years ago and Paul Finstad, my predecessor and spirit guide (he will hate that), encouraged me to get to know Cal. We met with Cal over lunch, and he shared stories with me about his YMCA time. He was one of those kids who snuck into the Y, sometimes through skylights, to play basketball.
In the late 1980s after developing a successful eye clinic in Fargo, the executive of the YMCA at the time was getting an eye checkup with Cal and said, “Cal, it might be time for you to pay for that membership we gave you for free all those years ago,” and Dr. Fercho hasn’t looked back since. He has donated to the Y, our endowment fund, and continues to send a gift each year. He has repaid his membership from those many years ago through his impact on our YMCA family for years and years to come. His impact has been so large on the organization, we honored him by naming the Fercho YMCA after his family and this is only a small token of our gratitude.
During one of my meetings with him three years ago, he stopped by my office and presented a check to our endowment fund. As we were sitting there, I told him I was thinking about getting Lasix surgery so that I didn’t have to wear glasses. He coached me not to do it and asked me to give him my glasses. He sat there peering through the lenses and said, “Steve, you have a stigmatism in your right eye, you have a reader .25 and this is what is going on with your left eye….” I sat there amazed. I wanted to be Cal Fercho. I still want to be Cal Fercho.
I am hoping you will help me honor Dr. Fercho for his 99th birthday by making a gift to the organization in his name of $99. That gift will help us honor him again by letting him know that the community is aware of his impact on us.
Your gift will support the Annual Campaign Fund and will help ensure that no child today will have to sneak in like Cal used to do—they’ll be able to join the Y with the same sense of belonging Cal experienced all those years ago. These are the funds we use to help our neighbors access the YMCA through membership support, providing swimming lessons to children in need, making sure that any child who wants to go to Camp Cormorant can go, or for parents who have children in our Learning Center and Childcare programs so that they can work and earn a livable wage.
If you feel the calling to honor Cal, make a gift online or send a check to the Y. We will make sure that we let Cal know the impact you have made too.
I still want to be Cal Fercho. I hope you feel the same!
Happy Birthday, Cal!
See you at the Y!
Steve Smith, President and CEO
Posted on: September 30, 2024