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The YWCA is celebrating 90 years of serving the High Point community this year.

The organization will celebrate Jan. 27 at the High Point Country Club during its annual meeting.

Executive Director Heidi Majors, who has been with the Y eight years, is proud to be leading an organization with such a long history.

“I love it because the longevity is there,” she said.

Majors enjoys hearing how the Y has played a part in people’s lives. “Jim and Ann Morgan had their first dance here,” she said. “Susan Childress of Country Legends (98.3) learned to swim here. It’s amazing to look back and see how people in the community have been a part of the Y.”

The Women’s Club of High Point started the Y in 1920 in what they called the “Y hut” — a home on the corner of Wrenn Street and Green Drive, Majors said.

A lot of the programs were a result of World War I, such as helping women train for the workplace.

As programs grew, the Y moved into the Adams home, now known as the J.H. Adams Inn.

The Y remained there until 1960 when it moved to the current Gatewood Avenue location.

“One thing that is exciting about the YW, is it has always been on the forefront,” Majors said.

The Y started one of the first women’s shelters in the city years ago and opened up a cafeteria and residence halls in the ’20s for the many young women moving to the city.

When the YWCA moved to Gatewood Avenue, it began offering fitness and aquatics programs. Since beginning in 1986, the nonprofit’s adolescent parenting program has been cited by the state as leader in those services.

In 2005, the YWCA opened the Women’s Resource Center, featuring a resource library, computer lab, career closet, baby basic closet and volunteers to assist individuals with referrals and support groups.

Majors said the Y plans to continue to meet the needs of the community’s women and children and strengthening its programs.

The Y is also working on a strategic plan, expected to be completed in April, to guide the organization in the coming years.

“I encourage people to get involved and see what the YWCA is all about,” Majors said. “Whether it’s coming in and getting in an aquatics program or volunteering with the Women’s Resource Center, the teen mom program or an after-school program.”

Contact E.A. Seagraves at 883-4422, Ext. 241, or elizabeth. seagraves@news-record.com