'Super disappointing': Beatrice YMCA hit by vandalism over the weekend

BEATRICE, Neb. - The YMCA is a place where people work on their skills in athletics, fitness, and even art.

But over weekend, someone displayed their artistic skills in unwanted way at the YMCA in Beatrice.

“Saturday evening I came out, I glanced over, and saw quite an array of graffiti from one end to the other,”

Mere feet from baseball diamonds and a jungle gym used by children daily, profanity covered the bricks of the Beatrice YMCA concessions stands. Executive Director Allison Leonard says YMCA staff spent all of Monday and part of Tuesday working to rid the building of the vandalism.

“Super disappointing,” Leonard said. “We want the Y to be a place where everyone feels welcome and enjoys their time here.. We have the splash pad behind us where a lot of birthdays take place and kids are here and there’s a lot of small children around this space as well, so it’s really disappointing when you come see awful writings.”

Despite the disappointment Leonard feels, she also says the vandalism has shown the good of the community - in how they’ve stepped up to help.

“I had probably at least six texts, a half a dozen messages privately through Facebook and on our Facebook page who said ‘Hey, if I can come help, I’ll come help,” Leonard said. “That makes me feel proud to be a part of this community.”

Some neighbors to the YMCA have also reached out to Leonard offering possible help through security camera footage. Leonard also says Beatrice Police are investigating.

“We do have cameras in our drive through, but they don’t reach all the way over here… Which we’ll probably be changing,” Leonard said. “We haven’t had this happen in a really long time, which is also nice, but super disappointing that someone would vandalize a place such as this.”