The Twin Lakes Family Wellness Center has had its doors open for almost 11 months and has recently signed its 1,000th active member to its roster.

Donna Vincent, Albany, was presented with a gift card Monday morning from the Twin Lakes Family Wellness Center.

Board of Directors Chairman Bobby Grant said this is a great achievement, but he is looking for more.

“It makes me feel great,” Grant said. “I will feel even better when we get to 2,000 and with this director we have, I think that’s a real possibility.”

Pam Ostertag has been the director of the facility since early August.

“She is working hard and doing an excellent job. Not only her, but her staff as well,” Grant said. “They are all doing an excellent job.”

The wellness center officially opened its’ doors on March 16, 2011 and its membership has been growing ever since.

“I still think that we should all feel blessed that we have a facility like this,” Grant said.

Adding to the success of the wellness center, Ostertag has scheduled several different activities to encourage participation, including water aerobics with teachers, Nancy Mims and Jennifer Dyer, spin classes with Lisa Beard and Barb McWhorter, Platies with Heather Marcum and Zumba classes with Jessica Conner.

“Since the beginning of the year it has grown. It seems like everyday we are getting two or three members. We’ve had to schedule two different spin classes because we didn’t have enough machines to satisfy the amount of people who were coming.”

Ostertag said they now have their spin classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the first class starting around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the second class starting around 6:15 and lasting until 7:15.

“We are also extending water aerobics and having classes on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings,” Ostertag said.

Water aerobics has classes Monday, Tuesday, every other Wednesday and Thursday and Saturdays.

“We offer four full days of water aerobics,” Ostertag said. “Our instructors are doing a really great job.”

The staff at the wellness center is also looking at adding a child watch service which is considered limited, but will allow for parents to come and work out at the facility while their children are being supervised.

“We are working on a plan to where we can offer it on a limited basis right now,” Grant said. “We are hoping to get young couples who have children coming in. Right now we don’t have anything to keep the children occupied while the parents are working out, but we hope to have that soon.”

Ostertag said members were taking advantage of the early times, with the facility opening around 5 a.m.

“A lot of people come in during the morning time from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and others come in after 4 p.m.,” Ostertag said.

For more information about becoming a member of the Twin Lakes Family Wellness Center, call 606-387-YMCA (9622).

While this dusk-time winter front gave a dark and gloomy appearance over the Twin Lakes Family Wellness Center when this recent photo was made, it’s success and outlook is actually just the opposite.

The facility’s staff and board this week had plenty of reason to tout a celebratory attitude when the 1000th active member, Donna Vincent, was added to the membership roster.