BEVERLY- The Greater Beverly YMCA received the largest single donation in its history
Wednesday when Cummings Center officials gave it a $1million check to help pay for new YMCA Teen & Enrichment Center.

The teen center, currently under construction on the hill next to the YMCA Sterling Center on Essex St., is scheduled to open the first week of September. It will consist of two high-school-sized gymnasiums, a teen recreation area, seven classrooms, a computer lab, a full kitchen, an outdoor playground and a preschool center.

The teen center will be named the Douglas Stephens YMCA Teen Center in memory of the Cummings Properties executive vice president and treasurer who died last month of a pancreatic cancer at age 64.

Cummings Center General Manager Gerry McSweeney said the $1 million represents the second largest donation ever made by the Cummings Foundation, second only to a $1.5 million donation to tufts University, the alma mater of William Cummings.

"The Y is the type of organization that our foundation likes to support," McSweeney said. "The foundation looks as it as an investment in the future when you invest in youth."
 
The teen center will cost $2.8 million. The Y is still looking to raise $750,000 for the project, according to Greater Beverly YMCA Executive Director Chris Lovasco.