Young Mens Christian Association Of Kingston And Ulster County

Programs: Youth development - the kingston & ulster county ymca extends itsleadership in nurturing the potential of youth in ulster county through ourbefore & after school programs in marlboro, highland, new paltz,kerhonkson, marbletown, and kingston. Programs in these communityelementary schools offer a range of opportunity for social, physical andemotional growth, with activities such as arts and crafts, various indoorand outdoor ball games, aquatics, outdoor activities, and playground time. Participant enrollment is based on a fee structure with subsidies availablefrom the ymca. Subsidies cover over 30 daily participants by effective useof community donations, grants and support payments from the countydepartment of social services, the county youth bureau, united way andlocal fund raisers. These ymca fund raisers involve many volunteers andinclude our annual pro-am golf tournament, our annual strong kidssolicitation, annual dinner, annual indoor triathlon and the kids classicrunning event. Our summer day camps served over 650 children during tenweeks of the summer. During these full days of outdoor enrichment, campersand counselors were active with song, skits, ball games, arts and crafts,archery, swimming and canoe/kayaking. Campers were assigned to their camp"villages" by age, and since enrollments represented a very broaddemographic from many areas of ulster county, we are delighted tosubjectively report very favorable growth in the area of campersocialization skills.

healthy living - our ymca advocates healthy living for all ages byproviding opportunities for developing and maintaining physical fitness inour swimming pool, exercise rooms, basketball/volleyball courts, weightrooms and jogging tracks. Our fitness committee offers monthlyinformational sessions of flexibility, cardiovascular training, weightlifting, diet and nutrition, at no cost to members. Routinely, we providesupport for many of the adult, family and youth memberships. That financialaid policy requires us to deny no person access to the y for financialreasons; that policy is guided by the individual's household income andnumber of persons residing therein.

social responsibility - our ymca is very proactive in advancing our missionthroughout our ulster county service area. We accomplish this by means ofcollaborations and cooperative service agreements which make our programsaccessible to the entire community. Programs such as youthbuild, kidstogether and the teen strength and agility center are powerful examples ofthis ymca's efforts to strengthen community and build foundations forfuture generations. Other programs we host, as a demonstration of ourcommitment to meeting our social responsibilities, include our phase ivcardiac/pulmonary rehabilitation program. Five times each week, ourprogram monitors former patients who need the exercise, but prefer to do itunder the auspices of a dedicated exercise leader. Additional collaborations during the year include the rsvp (retired senior volunteer program),boys and girls club, astor children and family service, and the kingston land trust with community gardens.