Christian McIlvain
One image flashes across Christian McIlvain’s mind whenever someone mentions the YMCA.
His father sitting at a desk in his office in the 1990s with a stack of calling cards in front of him. The cards were described at the time as “the biggest stack in all of the YMCA.”
Written on every one was the phone number of an individual to contact with a request to give to the YMCA’s Strong Community Campaign.
Christian would watch his father finish one stack only to pull up another, showing a passion for his position as an East YMCA board member that was destined to leave a lasting mark on him.
“Just seeing that discipline and behavior and commitment to the YMCA, when you talk about planting early seeds, it was right there. You can't help but have it become a part of who you are as well,” he said. “Literally to his dying day, he still had the YMCA in mind. In lieu of flowers, he asked for that money to be sent to the YMCA’s annual campaign.”
At age 51, Christian has spent nearly half his life serving in a board capacity with the YMCA. He accepted a position on the Greater Wichita YMCA’s Metropolitan Board of Directors in 2025, after dedicating 23 years to the North YMCA Advisory Board. He considers himself fortunate to have been asked to serve on the North YMCA's first advisory board when the branch opened in its current location in 2002.
“It’s rewarding to think about the number of lives that have been positively impacted by the Y and its mission. There must be thousands of individuals who’ve benefitted from programs like Job Prep, the SPLASH! drowning prevention program, membership assistance and Middle School After School,” he said.
Professionally, Christian is President of POET Grain, where he is responsible for overall business operations that include physical grain supply and associated trading activity, management of personnel and business assets. He was named to the position in 2021.
Looking ahead, he intends to continue being a strong YMCA advocate. His three children, all in college, are already following in his footsteps.
Recently, he received a phone call from one of his children, who was driving home to Wichita, specifically asking if he wanted to go to the YMCA that night. Having treasured the time he spent so many years ago with his own dad exercising at the East YMCA, Christian saw it as a true full-circle moment.
And he knows his father would be proud.
“My dad was passionate about the potential of the YMCA. With the Greater Wichita YMCA today, we’re still not done with bringing that potential to fruition,” Christian remarked. “That's why we need to keep telling the YMCA story. We need to be continuing to raise more money, because there's more need out there than we're addressing right now.”