When you walk into Jeff and Terri Greiner’s home in Greenwood — built on the historic grounds of the former YWCA Lyman Lodge — you quickly sense what matters most to them. Family photos line the walls. Mementos of years spent raising their children, Chad, Megan, and Josh, fill the rooms. And woven throughout their story is another constant: the YMCA.
And it started early.
“Youth in Government shaped me,” Jeff recalls. “It gave me confidence, purpose, and a sense of responsibility.” In 1977, as the Youth Governor in the YMCA’s Youth in Government program, he introduced fellow Minnesotan and Law School Classmate of his father, Walter Mondale, then Vice President of the United States, in the White House Rose Garden.
For Jeff, the Y has been part of his life for nearly five decades, and it’s been almost as long for Terri.
“The Y just does it all,” Terri says. “It deals with the world’s trials and tribulations — and does it in a way that lifts people up.”
All three Greiner children spent their summers at YMCA Camp Christmas Tree: their eldest son, Chad, even built the camp’s gaga ball pit for his Eagle Scout project. The couple also has a special love for Y Camps and Beacons; programs they believe help young people navigate today’s challenges with confidence and hope.
Leadership became the hallmark of the Greiner Y story: just as Jeff found his footing as a young student leader in Youth in Government, as an adult, he found his way as a community leader working to serve the Y mission.
Encouraged by a friend as a young adult, Jeff joined the Hiawatha YMCA Branch Board. A few years later, in the 1990s, he was invited to serve on the General Board of the YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis, beginning of what would become three decades of dedicated board leadership. He chaired the Board from 2005–07, played a key role in the merger of the Minneapolis and St. Paul YMCAs, and later chaired the YMCA of the North’s historic $231 million Forward For All Campaign.
“Jeff and Terri Greiner have gone above and beyond,” says YMCA President Glen Gunderson. “The entire time I’ve worked for the Y, you’d be hard pressed to find many Board members, volunteers, or donors who have cared more deeply, have worked harder, and been more thoughtful in their support of us as a team.”
Time and again, Terri and Jeff point to their relationships with people — volunteers, employees, and participants of the Y — as their true anchor. “For us,” says Terri, “our involvement has always been about people. About getting things done. About relationships — not just giving financially.”
Jeff and Terri cited lifelong friendships born at the Y with current and former Y leaders, including Doug and Wendy Dayton, Fred and Marie Friswold, Glen and Nancy Gunderson, former Minneapolis YMCA President Harold Mezile and his wife, Peggy, Kathryn Ramstad, John Gainor, Andrea Walsh, and many others.
Their feelings are clearly mutual. “I love them both dearly, and I’m so grateful to honor them here,” Glen says.
For the Greiners, their leadership journey continues, though now it’s taken on a new dimension: legacy-building — preserving the YMCA mission forever. “Hopefully the Y’s work will continue in perpetuity,” Jeff says. “Not only through our gift, but through the generosity of so many others.”
Their story is one of leadership, community, and gratitude — a reminder that when people give of themselves, the ripple effect lasts far beyond a lifetime.