Shelly and Jim Dixon are Lompoc Family YMCA’s 2018 honorary community chairs for its Annual Campaign. The honorary chair represents the essence of the Y and the commitment to the service of the community.
Jim Dixon passed away in 2017 due to esophageal cancer. His wife Shelly accepted the honor for both herself and her husband.
“I am overwhelmed and so grateful for the opportunity to keep Jim’s memory alive in the perfect way,” she said.
Jim Dixon supported the Channel Islands YMCA Association since his involvement with the Lompoc Board in 1999. He focused on facilities, grounds, and board development.
In February 2008, he served on the Channel Islands YMCA Association Board of Directors.
In 2011, Sal Cineros, Channel Islands Association CEO, asked Dixon to serve as the project manager for the initial phase of Lompoc Family YMCA’s capital renovation.
The renovation became a $350,000 project which expanded the cardio room, created a spin room, and added new office space to the Y.
“Jim loved the Y. He believed in the mission and worked to support that mission for many years,” said Stephanie Saucedo, interim branch manager for the Lompoc Family YMCA.
“He was a man who was committed to ‘be the change you want to see in the world,’” Saucedo said.
Shelly Dixon, a supporter of Y Camp, shared her camp experience at the Lompoc Family YMCA Annual Campaign Kickoff on Feb. 15.
One year, she took a week off work to be a volunteer camp counselor. She rode the bus to Y camp in King’s Canyon with more than 80 campers. She was in charge of a cabin and 10 girls were assigned to her.
“We [she and the girls] laughed, we cried, we played, we sang, we talked,” Dixon said. “And I was so touched by these girls. And I hope I helped make a difference so they left knowing how special they were.”
The Lompoc Family YMCA has a goal of raising $95,000 during the Annual Campaign. Every dollar raised stays in Lompoc. The funds provide scholarships which allow youth, families and seniors in need access to Lompoc Family YMCA’s programs.
Programs include wellness and healthy-living offerings, summer day camp, afterschool enrichment, senior fitness and the Livestrong cancer-survivor program.
Over the last eight years, the Lompoc Family YMCA has granted more than $750,000 in scholarships for the Lompoc community.
“The Y mission has always been in the hearts of the Dixons, and their family,” Saucedo said. “The Dixons love that the Y and programs such as summer camp and afterschool care benefit the children, youth and community of Lompoc.”
To make a donation to the Annual Campaign or in memory of Jim Dixon, visit www.ciymca.org/lompoc/give and choose the Lompoc Family YMCA branch.
For more about Annual Campaign, contact Saucedo at 736-3483 or email Stephanie.Saucedo@ciymca.org.
For more information about the Lompoc Family YMCA, visit www.ciymca.org/lompoc or call 736-3483.
— Audrey Graves for Channel Islands YMCA.