YMCA of Metro Atlanta honored Mark Spain as its Fundraiser of the Year at its awards ceremony, Celebration of Community Champions, Monday, February 10, 2020, at the Cobb Galleria Centre. Spain has been a very involved member of the Forsyth County Family YMCA since he and his family became charter members when the facility opened in 2006.
 
“I have been involved with the Y since my childhood when I took swim lessons at the South DeKalb YMCA,” explains Mark Spain, who remembers the experience as having a great impact on his childhood. “Now that I am a father, it has been important to me that our children also be involved in an organization that matches our family’s value system.”
 
The Mark Spain Foundation serves its communities to make a difference in the lives of community members, and that involvement would eventually also include his award-winning firm, Mark Spain Real Estate. Spain has served on the Forsyth County Family YMCA board the last five years, chaired its 2014 inaugural YMCA Spin-A-Thon and now sponsors the annual fundraiser (which raises tens of thousands of dollars annually to help provide children access to camps and programs regardless of their financial circumstances). He was honored as Volunteer of the Year in 2015.
 
His support of the Forsyth County Family YMCA continues into Mark Spain Real Estate. Once a year, the firm closes for the day to host its Big Y Day, where all of the Mark Spain Real Estate  team members show up to clean and prep the Y’s camp so it is ready to welcome children each summer. Mark Spain Real Estate was also awarded Volunteer of the Year in 2018.
 
“My experience with the YMCA has been incredible as well as eye-opening,” says Mark Spain, an Atlanta native and long-time Forsyth County resident. “I had no idea one in five members in my local community was on some form of scholarship or financial assistance. It was a call to action for me personally to make a difference and have a positive impact.”
 
The goal for the Forsyth County Family YMCA Spin-A-Thon this year is to fundraise more than $60,000, with Mark Spain personally committing to raise over $30,000.