Mirto's Spanish Connection

J.D. Mirto and the future king of Spain have something in common: they were both honored guests at the same celebration in Spain last December.

J.D. is vice president of The Rhiel Supply Co., a distributor with branches in Youngstown and Akron, Ohio. He is also the chairman of the board of Camp Fitch, a YMCA camp on Lake Erie. Camp Fitch received an award from the YMCA of Spain for its years of dedicated service to Spain.

The YMCA of Spain celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. J.D. and his wife, Sue, traveled to Madrid for the occasion. The prince, whose official designation is: “His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias, Felipe de Borbon y Grecia,” was there because he is the honorary president of the YMCA of Spain.

There were over 1,400 guests at the celebration, including Bartholomew Shana, the secretary general of the World Alliance of YMCAs from Switzerland.

“Camp Fitch was the only honoree from outside of Spain,” J.D. said. It was also the only individual YMCA that was recognized.

How did this special relationship between the Ohio and Spain YMCAs begin? The YMCA returned to Spain in the early 1980s, after years in exile — having been banished by Francisco Franco during his dictatorship.

When the Cleveland-based international YMCA office that was helping the fledgling YMCA of Spain closed up in the late 1980s, Camp Fitch stepped in and kept the relationship alive. If it weren’t for Camp Fitch, the YMCA of Spain would have fallen by the wayside.

“I didn’t realize how much we did for the ‘Y’ of Spain until I went to the reception,” said J.D.

J.D. said that Spanish kids attended summer camp and Spanish staff members trained at Camp Fitch.

“It got to the point that there were so many kids coming from Spain, we had a hard time handling them all,” said J.D. “So, we contacted other camps around the country and asked them to host the Spanish students.”

“Camp Fitch,” he continued, “took care of all the details, including sending somebody to Spain to meet the kids and give them an orientation about camp life in America.”

“We would, for instance, contact a YMCA camp in California and arrange for six kids and a couple of counselors from Spain to go there,” J.D. noted. “It was great for the Spanish kids because they got to travel to different parts of the [United States].”

Camp Fitch still coordinates efforts with Spain for camping and leadership training.

“Camp Fitch is near and dear to my heart,” said J.D. He has been going to the camp since he was four years old, and worked on the staff there until he “got a real job at Rhiel Supply.”

He’s been on the Camp Fitch board of directors for 25 years, and served as chairman for seven years.

Besides serving on the board, this is J.D.’s 34th year as either a camper or staff person at Camp Fitch.

Even now, J.D. goes to the camp in the winter with a group of dads and their sons for a weekend of skiing and sports.

J.D. says he is as excited about his time as a Camp Fitch camper and staff person as he is about the evening he spent with the prince of Spain.

Exactly what you’d expect to hear from a guy who, when asked what it felt like to be part of that celebration in Spain, summed it up with one word: “Humbling.”

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns Auxiliary Marketing Services of San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “freetime,” contact her at (210) 601-4572 or GretchenRoufs@aol.com.