Home Away From Home
Joe Katina grew up in the Samoan Islands with his parents and four brothers. When he was 18 years old, his mother faced a cancer diagnosis, and the whole family moved to the States. She passed away shortly after, and Joe’s father needed a positive outlet for his sons.
"My dad was trying to find a place for us to belong. We were just in this new country—culture shock—so we went to the local YMCA in Tacoma, Washington,” Joe recalled. “We couldn’t afford anything, and I remember the executive, Charlie, full of energy saying, ‘You guys come! You guys work out here!’ Charlie let us work out at the Y for whatever we could afford, and I’m sure it was nothing."
Charlie's welcoming attitude meant the world to the boys.
"The Y basically was—outside of our own relatives—a family, a place that we felt like we belonged. It really gave us some esteem and security like, ‘Hey, we’re on welfare, but we’re members of the Y.’ That was our identity for several years.”
Joe said Charlie let them know that their memberships would work at nearly every Y in the US.
"We were like, ‘Well, we’re not going anywhere else,’” he remembered with a laugh. Just a year later, the brothers began touring the country as a Christian music group called The Katinas. When they stopped in various cities to perform, they could work out at a local center.
“All five of us learned how to play basketball at the Y,” Joe said. “It was funny because when we first got there, we were just kids and no one wanted us on their team when all the men were playing. Well, in about two years, we were the squad!”
The Katinas gained a significant audience over the years and relocated to Music City in the early 90s to support their flourishing careers.
“We moved here and the same thing happened where we just knew we had to work out at the Y,” Joe said.
Joe and his wife have now lived in the Greater Nashville area for 24 years and raised their two sons as members of the Y. His brothers and their families also belong to various locations in Middle Tennessee.
The Katinas have become a Dove-award winning group that has traveled around the world to perform in churches, stadiums, and everything in between. Sometimes when the whole family is in town, Joe said they still meet at the Y to play basketball.
"It’s been a blessing to us," he said.
Their Y story has come full circle in another way too, as the family now helps others receive the same opportunity they had by supporting Open Doors. This charitable assistance program offers financial aid to thousands of community members who wouldn’t be able to access the Y otherwise.
While it’s incredibly meaningful to give back, Joe believes it’s also just a natural way of practicing the generosity his parents exhibited.
“Even when we were on welfare and couldn’t afford it, we were always givers,” he said. “It’s humbling, and we’re thankful for the opportunity.”