Randy Kinnas: Merger Between YMCA, CYC ‘The Way to Go’ (Audio)

The Berkshire Family YMCA and the CYC will merge together.

It was announced on Wednesday that the two organizations will become one entity. IBerkshires.com was the first to report the news.

Five years ago, the CYC building was sold by the church to the Boys and Girls Club. With the future uncertain, the CYC formed partnerships with several local locations -- including Gladys Allen Brigham Center, Miss Hall's School, Berkshire Community College.

Two years ago, the CYC began talks with Randy Kinnas, the CEO and Executive Director of the Berkshire Family YMCA. Fast forward to now, and the relationship will blossom into an official partnership. Kinnas joined Slater & Marjo in the Morning on Thursday to discuss how it all came together.

"They were looking for a partner," Kinnas told Live 95.9. "We sat down and had a discussion, and we figured out that we would be able to help out in this process. We have been handling all of the registrations, and things of that nature for the CYC. Admin functions, marketing and such."

The CYC's basketball and volleyball programs will be added to the YMCA's countless list of youth programs -- still under the CYC namesake. Kinnas explains that this is indeed a working partnership and that the YMCA is not looking to fix something that isn't broken.

"We didn't come in and say, 'Hey, you've been running basketball programs for 100 years, we're going to tell you how to do it differently,'" Kinnas explained. "We didn't do that. We knew that the product was good, we knew that the brand was great and we wanted to continue that. The staff came over to our staff and we hired them. They started running their programs the way that they did. We only came in as an admin function."

According to the iBerkshires.com report, the CYC is expected to meet on June 14 to sign the documents needed to make the merger with the YMCA official.

Listen to the full interview with Randy Kinnas below: