After 35 years with the Illinois Valley YMCA, David Potthoff leaves a lasting legacy

After 35 years with the Illinois Valley YMCA, CEO David Potthoff will retire from his post.

About 40 years ago, Potthoff first began his career by joining the staff of the YMCA in Farmington Hills, Mich. straight out of college.

Potthoff worked at the fairly new and active YMCA before taking a position in charge of programs with the McKinley YMCA in Champaign.

After some time in Champaign, in 1987, Potthoff was given an opportunity to return home to Peru and take a position with the Illinois Valley YMCA.

“I am a big believer in organizational development by having a key board of directors, quality and trained staff, meaningful programs and community action collaborations,” Potthoff said. “We have a great donor base that has helped us do many things in the community.”

At that time, the Peru location was a small facility equipped with a gymnasium and an office space. He estimated at that time the budget it had for operations was about $120,000.

“From there I saw a lot of opportunity and we had different building expansions over the years,” Potthoff said. “In fact we’ve had five different building expansions plus the Link Aquatic Center and the Miller therapy building for aquatics therapy.”

During Potthoff’s tenure the facility grew from a gymnasium and office space into a 115,000 square-foot complex that provides many services to those throughout the Illinois Valley.

The Illinois Valley YMCA offers different programs and amenities for individuals of all ages. It offers preschool child care, youth sports, various team sports, exercise programs and senior citizens programs.

The programs and the sense of community the YMCA exhibits, creates an environment where many people can spend large parts of their lives. It is open seven days a week and has programs and activities that run about 16 to 17 hours daily.

The Illinois Valley YMCA has built amenities with the help of other nearby organizations. The skate park was built with the help of the Peru Township and the city of La Salle.

The Miller Therapy Center was built with the collaboration of Illinois Valley Community Hospital and the Miller family. The Link Aquatic center also was built with the help of the Link family and includes not only a swimming pool but also a water park, lap pool and therapy pool for anyone who visits.

“We’ve had some great collaborations throughout the community,” Potthoff said. “We have worked with nearly every organization. Some of our facilities you can see, have been collaborations we’ve built.”

Potthoff said his time with the YMCA has been a “we” instead of “me” mentality with all involved coming together to create amenities for the community.

“It’s very important the staff members, not so much myself, but the staff members, the donors that help support the programs and the general community are really the heroes for the success of the YMCA,” Potthoff said.

The YMCA has worked with the city of Peru to provide free access to swimming lessons, scholarships for those who can’t afford a membership and provided many other opportunities to try and reach as many individuals as it can.

Potthoff from the time he began with the YMCA until now, never stopped updating goals and continued to evolve and move the organization forward. He believes in his line of work an individual has to continue to keep things rolling to make sure the programs are always performing to their highest abilities.

Potthoff believes it is time for him to step aside from the organization he has spent over three decades with and thinks it can be beneficial for both parties.

“I think from an organizational standpoint, you need new ideas and new blood,” Potthoff said. “I think for our organization it’s a good move for our YMCA to continue to meet the community needs.”

Moving forward, Potthoff wants to see the YMCA continue to provide more programs and services to residents of the Illinois Valley and to continue to provide opportunities that people, otherwise, may not have.

While Potthoff is leaving, he wanted to ensure everyone his track record has included a true collective effort and thanked all that had a hand in making the YMCA what it is today.

“I have been very fortunate that I had a fantastic and aggressive board, a very good staff and wonderful donors to help us succeed in the community,” Potthoff said. “After spending 40 years in a YMCA, I think from my standpoint it’s time to do some other things that I’ve haven’t always had time to do.”

Potthoff is looking forward to taking his new found time to take a breath and enjoy some of the things he hasn’t had a chance to get to yet such as fishing, gardening, reading and spend some time with his family.