Matt Lund - CEO at Grants Pass Family YMCA

With programs to serve our youth, to young and middle aged adults, to retiree's, Grants Pass Family YMCA is here to help everyone in our community.

Tune in as CEO Matt Lund talks about the important role the Y plays in our community, some thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 and a special announcement on their expansion in the area.

Head on over to the Y's website for more on current news and events - http://www.grantspassymca.org/

Stay updated by following them on Facebook also - https://www.facebook.com/GrantsPassFamilyYMCA/

Transcription

Brian: Matt Lund has been married to his wife Stephanie for 11 years. He has four kids, ages ten, nine, six and five. Matt loves being active spending time with his family, serving the community and discovering how he can make a bigger impact on people's lives serving a higher purpose.

Matt Lund, welcome to the Grants Pass VIP Podcast.

Matt: Thank you, I enjoy being here.

Brian: Yeah. So why don't you just let us know a little bit about who you are and where people would know you from?

Matt: Sure. I don't know how many would know me locally. Although I've been here for a little over a year and a half now.

I grew up in Central California. Most of my childhood life obviously.

Then for college, I left and went to New Mexico, actually was an athlete played basketball in college at Florida basketball scholarship.

From there, I moved out to the Midwest and I played Semi Pro basketball in the CBA.

This is now going on 21 years ago.

So it's been some years, but after playing I fortunately came across an injury and was it not able to play anymore.

Ended up having to decide what to do in life for career, right?

What do we do to support ourselves?

How do we do it and what's our passion?

I decided to go in and work with youth and work with families and do it around what I loved, which was playing sports, and so I ended up getting a job at a YMCA in Wisconsin and started out as a sports coordinator, did it for about two and a half years.

Then I ended up going to work for the Chicago Metro YMCA as an operations director.

I was running one of the largest sports programs in the country for YMCA's, ended up having about 6,000 kids that came through my sports programs and running another YMCA as well.

I was able to then take my career and go down to work for the Wichita YMCA. I became an executive there in Wichita, was there for a few years and then moved on to the Twin Cities and worked in downtown Minneapolis, for the YMCA as well.

Was able to really get a well rounded background working in the YMCA and understanding different aspects doing governmental work, doing, obviously nonprofit work for the why learning to work with youth learning to work with older adults, learning to work with families and business ventures.

It just really gave me a well rounded background.

So I ended up wanting to do more around working with people and understanding how do we help people become more balanced in their life.

How do you become healthy spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally?

So I ended up becoming the Executive Director for the National Wellness Institute, which is one of the oldest nonprofit wellness organizations in the world.

Did that for about three and a half years, we really focused around the mindfulness and resilience and behavior change.

Again, more of the holistic approach, but not so much the physical and nutrition side of it. I got a lot of that information and a lot of that background from the YMCA. Again it was, how do we go about this in the spirit, mind, body?

Having that education and that background working at the National Wellness Institute along with the YMCA. When I left the Y to work for the National Wellness Institute, I learned a lot enjoyed my time there.

And then I got to a point where it was time for me to come back to where my first love was,...