The Newton YMCA provides many services in the areas of team sports, health improvement and other activities. The Newton branch was created in 1927. Six years after Mary Frances Skiff Memorial Hospital opened, a $40,000 debt hung over the hospital, largely due to unpaid donations from the original fund drive. F.L. Maytag, founder of the Maytag Company and a supporter of the hospital, agreed to a personal pledge of $250,000 to build a YMCA if Newton residents would pay the pledged funds for the hospital s debt. The Newton Chamber of Commerce gathered to form a 30-member committee. It raised $54,191 in a week to allow the Mary Frances Skiff Memorial Hospital to be debt-free, and Newton s YMCA was subsequently built. The Newton YMCA continues more than 70 years later. Officially known as the Young Mens Christian Association, the YMCA has been apart of the community in several ways. Services such as gymnasium and weight lifting equipment are available to Newton residents. The YMCA is also a major organizer of youth and adult athletics in the community.