‘Heartless’: Former Charlotte YMCA board member slams Ballantyne branch sale
A former YMCA of Greater Charlotte board member joined the throngs of protesters Sunday outside the Ballantyne branch site and offered a blunt assessment of the decision to sell it for $42.5 million — “Heartless.”
Tom Giblin, a YMCA board member from 2003-2010, was in front of the Morrison Family YMCA with his dog Amani Shujja, a 3-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback.
“In my opinion, it’s heartless,” he told The Charlotte Observer in an interview about the sale. “I felt like I was part of building something for the community here.
“And now, they’re taking it away. And there’s something fundamentally wrong with that.”
Sunday’s protest came less than a month after YMCA of Greater Charlotte’s surprise announcement June 17 that it was selling the Morrison complex to Moments of Hope Church. The deal is expected to be completed next summer, when the Morrison YMCA at 9405 Bryant Farms Road will close and Moments of Hope will take over.
The deal also will displace a Forest Hill Church campus, a church that Moments of Hope pastor David Chadwick used to lead.
The YMCA said the transaction will accelerate the nonprofit’s $100-million regional reinvestment plan.
But Giblin said the sale to a single church is counter to why he supports the YMCA. It’s a prominent nonprofit that makes a broad impact across all areas of the community, he said.
And he voiced another concern, about the 11,000 children who he said are served every summer through the Morrison YMCA camp programs.
“Is that going to go away?” he asked.
The Y said Sunday it will continue to provide the “high-quality programs, services and experiences families expect” for the area. Many protesters, however, still had doubts.
A personal connection to the Ballantyne YMCA
Giblin was standing Sunday under the pavilion on the northeast corner of the Morrison YMCA property.
The pavilion was built as a memorial to his daughter Rachel Giblin, who died at age 15 in 2006. She had died while riding her bike to the beach to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.
About 200 people helped build it, Giblin said, from placing stones in the floor to classmates putting glass pieces into the two mosaic curved benches. There are eight metal Greek muse sculptures by local sculptor Tom Risser. Giblin’s brother sent the pieces that make up the roof from Hawaii.
“Read this,” he said, pointing to one of two writings etched on in concrete on both sides of the pavilion floor that make up his daughter’s autobiography.
“It’s about inclusivity, which is why we put this here. We wanted this to be not just for the Y, but for the community.
“That’s for the community, too,” he said referring to the Morrison YMCA.
In the center of the pavilion floor is a circle with the YMCA’s mission statement: “To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.”
With the pending sale, Giblin said, “I think a lot of these people here are going to feel that they’re being excluded from something that they may have moved here for.”
Morrison branch was built for everyone
On Sunday, as protesters headed to the YMCA, the YMCA said its Board of Directors had carefully evaluated the unsolicited sale offer before approving the purchase and sale agreement. “The YMCA is moving forward with the transaction,” the nonprofit said in a statement to the Observer.
Giblin is unsure what will happen to the pavilion when the church takes over. He said neither the Y nor Chadwick’s church has promised anything.
As for the sale itself, Giblin said other former YMCA leaders and board members are also “distraught" over the sale.
“They all gave their time and their effort to build a community thinking this will be here for everyone.”
Observer reporter Chase Jordan contributed to this report
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
