Mary Anyanwu didn’t feel like coming in that day.
Not when everything felt uncertain for her – when changes to her insurance meant the routine she had built over nearly 16 years at the YMCA might be taken away.
“I got bummed out,” she says. “I thought, 'Why are you doing this?' People need a place to come and have a good outlet.”
But Mary showed up anyway.
And in a place that had helped her through far more difficult moments, Mary found something she wasn’t ready to lose: a community that had become part of her life.
Mary's Y Story
Mary doesn’t live far from the Southdale YMCA. But the Y has become much more than a convenient place for Mary to exercise.
For nearly 16 years, it has been a place where she comes to reset.
“There's a community,” Mary says. “People are friendly. It's a positive place to come.”
And sometimes, that positivity matters more than anything else.
“You look at everything going on in the world,” she says. “You come here – it could be an hour, it could be two hours – and you can just relax.”
Like many others, Mary first came to the YMCA for a simple reason: she wanted to stay healthy. Over the years, she has made fitness part of her routine. She moves between machines, working through her regular circuit. Some days she joins group classes. Other days, she focuses on strength training.
“There’s a bunch of machines over there,” she says. “I do all of them.”
She also appreciates what the Y offers beyond exercise.
“They teach about nutrition,” she says. “No matter how old you are, you still need to learn.”
For Mary, staying active is about more than physical health.
“It helps your mind,” she says.
Over the years, Mary has faced significant health challenges.
Through it all, the Y remained a constant, a refuge where she could stay positive and keep moving forward.
“I couldn’t wait to come here,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what you're going through."
Routine at Risk
Last year, Mary worried her routine might be derailed.
Changes involving insurance coverage meant she might no longer be able to afford to come.
“I got bummed out,” she says.
Then something special happened: the YMCA stepped in and helped Mary receive the financial support to keep her membership.
“If I could do the splits,” Mary says with a laugh, “that’s how happy I am.”
Instead, she just kept doing what she’s always done: Showing up.
For Mary, the Y feels different from other fitness centers.
“It’s more family-oriented. You’ve got little kids coming with their moms and dads,” she says. "It’s cute.”
Even if she doesn’t have children herself, she appreciates the energy they bring.
“They make you happy,” she says.
Over time, there have been conversations with familiar faces, and those conversations turn into meaningful connections.
“You come here long enough,” she says, “you start talking to people.”
Now Mary hopes to take that sense of community one step further.
She wants to volunteer.
“I want to get more involved,” she says. “It’s a way of getting to know people.”
Whether at the Y or beyond, her goal is simple: show up for others the way this community showed up for her.
“Just to put a good cheer in somebody’s day,” she says.
Mary wants to keep showing up – for herself and for others, because she knows you can’t always see what someone else is carrying.
“You never know what anybody’s going through,” she says.