Greater Valley Young Mens Christian Association

Results: The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits, strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. We serve all members of our community, from birth through span of life. We are committed to meeting emerging needs in the Lehigh Valley, and providing opportunities for all to find health, friendship and belonging at the Y. At our YMCA Branches, we offer a studio of fitness equipment, pools, gyms and fitness classes for all to reach their health goals. We also offer high-quality, affordable childcare for our families; while in our care, children participate in activities keeping minds and bodies engaged. Other youth programs include School Age Child Care, Preschool Programs (including Pre-K Counts), Youth Summer Day Camp, the 7th Grade Initiative and more. Through our social responsibility programs, we are committed to providing health and connection to our community members. These programs include our BEAUTIFUL YOU Female Cancer Support Group, Diabetes Prevention Program, Free Youth and Adult Meals Programs and so much more. And of course, our core Y values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are woven into all programs. Our goal is to help our community find friendship, health, confidence and belonging by participating in our programs both at the Y and within our neighborhoods. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our work is critical now more than ever. As many of our community members face healthy living barriers, we are working to ensure our community feels supported in these challenging times. Examples of our programming include the following: -Free Youth and Adult Meals Programs: In mid-March, we quickly shifted our regular meals programming to a grab-and-go system at four sites. As the months of the pandemic continue, we expanded to 19 sites meeting increased need from our community members. We also began to offer free Adult meals at many of our sites. In total, we served over 120,000 youth and adult meals and snacks from mid-March through December. We continue to serve meals at 5 sites throughout the Lehigh Valley. -Edu-Childcare Program: In this program, children in Kindergarten through age thirteen complete their remote lessons at the Y in a safe, well-equipped classroom with supervision and support. -Allentown Warming Station: In our 2019-2020 Season, we served 398 unique individuals. Although we closed our Season early due to the pandemic, we continued to offer resources and services for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. We opened our 2020-2021 Station on November 1st. -Social Responsibility: We decided not to charge membership or childcare fees while our facilities were closed. Knowing that our Y serves many low-to-moderate income families, our organization decided this was “the right things to do” during this difficult financial period.