Young Mens Christian Association Of The Virginia Peninsulas

Programs: A. Healthy livingthe ymca views health holistically: a healthy person has unity of body, mind and spirit. The ymca has identified the growing national obesity rates in this country as a critical social issue that must be addressed and our health and well-being programs are designed to help people develop new skills and grow in spirit, mind, and body by setting realistic goals for self-improvement and disease prevention through an active lifestyle, proper nutrition, stress management, and health education. Ymca programs promote interaction, teamwork, and development of moral and ethical behavior, social skills and self-esteem. We serve all ages, abilities, races, nationalities and religions and provide financial assistance to those who need it. The familiar ymca triangle emphasizes the oneness of spirit, mind, and body. Ymca health enhancement programs help achieve this unity through medically based programs that emphasize proper exercise, nutrition, stress management, avoidance of drug and alcohol abuse, and health education. The peninsula metropolitan ymca offers a lifelong progression of medically based health and wellness activities, experiences, and education, including programs for children, teens, families, and seniors. In 2017, 1,226,841 individuals engaged in health, well-being and fitness programs. Healthy habits can protect kids from life-threatening disease. Childhood obesity is in danger of reaching epidemic proportions across the united states. Obesity and overweight create an enhanced risk for serious health problems that manifest themselves both in childhood and later in life. Virginia ranks 27th in overall prevalence with 31% of children considered either overweight or obese. 5210 education is provided in all ymca school-age child care and preschool child development programs. It teaches children about making healthy choices and provides take-home educational materials so families can make healthy choices together. 5210 is built on four main pillars that help children live healthy every day: 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, 2 hours or less of screen time daily, 1 hour or more of physical activity each day, and 0 sugary drinks. Ymca healthy kids day is designed to highlight a wide range of wellness activities, sports and other physical activities that are available to kids at their local ymcas. With over 9 million overweight children in the united states, increasing the levels of physical activity in the lives of children is a critical component of our country's and our ymca's effort to fight childhood obesity. Both the national ymca and our ymca are dedicated to help fight childhood obesity year-round. Activities included games, physical challenges, crafts, healthy snacks and handouts for home. The goal is to show kids that physical activity can be fun. Healthy kids day was a great success with 1,259 children and 835 adults participating at 12 different locations. People with disabilities and those with chronic ailments, such as arthritis, cancer, and heart disease, find ymca program opportunities in ymca and community based pools. Ymca aquatics programs are a major part of the y's overall goal of building healthy spirit, mind, and body. In 2017, the ymca provided aquatics programs for 239,892 people. Infants through seniors took progressive swim classes, participated in our aquatic exercise programs, and participated in our arthritis aquatics classes. Teens learned lifeguarding skills in our lifeguard classes. The ymca's diabetes prevention program is a one-year, community based program. The participants attend small group classes and receive the support they need from certified lifestyle coaches. With a curriculum approved by the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc), the trained lifestyle coaches help motivate participants. Participants learn how to gradually incorporate healthier eating, moderate physical activity, problem-solving and coping skills into their daily lives.

b. Youth development strengthening families and meeting the needs of children have always been central to the ymca mission of building healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. The central focus of all ymca preschool and school-aged childcare programs is to foster growth and development, not only in children but also in their parents and families. Accordingly, parents play an important role in policy and program decisions. Ymca childcare curricula help children develop moral and ethical behavior, self-esteem, and leadership. Y childcare allows parents to remain gainfully employed, knowing that their children are thriving in a safe, supportive environment. Ymca financial assistance policies help ensure that the ymca is a place where children of all economic levels, from the affluent to the disadvantaged, receive the same quality care in the same setting. In 2017, 32,800 children attended afterschool programs at sixteen different child care sites and 6,312 children attended preschool programs at four preschool locations. Our ymca also gives families safe, reliable, and affordable recreational opportunities such as family swim night and volleyball which let families relax and enjoy time with each other. Ymca family life programs, parenting classes and family volunteer programs help people grow as responsible members of families. We provide children and their parents with activities that foster understanding and companionship. Activities are planned to bring groups of families together to support each other. Parents have the opportunity to learn from each other and from their children in an enjoyable way. The ymca provides family programming year-round. Day camps develop self-confidence and self-respect when campers meet challenges and learn to cooperate. Y camping programs are educational; they promote spiritual awareness, mental development, physical well-being, social growth, and a respect for the environment. Through a variety of activities and the use of natural surroundings, ymca camping seeks to help participants achieve their fullest potential in spirit, mind, and body. Low-cost ymca camping programs also are a safe, high quality alternative for working parents. Knowing that a child is being cared for in a y camp program enables these parents to remain gainfully and productively employed. In 2017, 17,036 children participated in ymca day camp and teen camp programs. As in the case of all ymca programs, financial assistance is available for those who cannot afford the customary fee. Ymca youth and teen programs help children develop self-esteem and good values, including, cooperation, respect for the body, good citizenship, and a strong work ethic. Teen activities are among the most rapidly growing ymca programs. In 2017, 733 middle and high school teens attended teen nights reflecting the growing awareness that adolescents need structure and activities, especially in the after-school hours. Ymca sports and recreational programs promote an appreciation of one's own worth. Youth sports focus on the full and equal participation of all: every child plays in every game. Ymca youth sports programs also help to strengthen families. Parents coach teams and turn out, often with brothers and sisters, to watch kids play. Young people participating in sports build lifelong positive attitudes, habits of healthy exercise and good nutrition, and learn ways to have fun as adults. There is little coaching on adult teams, but the same values apply - no putdowns, no name-calling, no profanity, and respect for others, giving everyone a chance to play. In 2017, 72,321 adult and youth participated in a myriad of sports programs that value cooperation over competition, fair play over winning at any cost, good feeling and good health over a good score, and building self-esteem over beating the opponent. The ymca knows that with this approach everyone wins - undefeated in spirit, mind, and body.

c. Social responsibility the ymca is more than the four walls of our facilities. We are partners in strengthening families and communities for members and non-members alike. Our ymca promotes community development through a series of programs designed to work with the disadvantaged, health and social departments, public school systems and many others. We have community partnerships with agencies such as rotary, kiwanis, hospitals and local municipalities. We believe that our role in stimulating volunteerism, training volunteer leaders and providing vehicles for charitable work addresses an important social need. Of our almost 50,000 members, 58% are families; 18,969 are youth; and 31% receive financial assistance for membership, childcare, and programs valued at $2,973,143. In addition, we touched more than 15,795 community members through our community outreach and education programs in 2017. The purpose of star achievers academy ymca is to increase student success in school and to contribute to reducing the hampton city schools high school dropout rate. Star achievers academy ymca, has worked with the youth of hampton since 1995. Originally a highly effective summer enrichment program for at-risk, average learners, the organization is now the community non-profit partner with william mason cooper elementary magnet school. The mission of this unique community partnership is to help children reach their full potential, particularly children in the middle (the average student) who oftentimes have been overlooked in the classroom. Star achievers academy ymca challenges its students "to stretch" intellectually, academically and socially. Our students attend from almost every neighborhood of the city and we are an accessible choice for low-moderate income families. Many of the new kindergarten children attended preschool at the downtown hampton child development center or the hampton city schools preschool grow program, both of which are programs designed for at risk children and their families. Since the partnership began we have seen a steady rise in the number of applications we receive. The partnership is achieving some remarkable student outcomes. The school is fully accredited, and has made adequate yearly progress (ayp); has one of the highest student attendance rates, and the school library circulates over 30,000 books per year. There is a 100% pass rate among kindergarten students on the pals standardized kindergarten assessment. Bright beginnings is a ymca program that helps provide new clothes and school supplies to children in need in our community. The goal is to help children have a great start in school by giving them the confidence and the tools they need to learn. Ymca volunteers take children shopping for school clothes; they also receive a back pack filled with school supplies. School supply lists are obtained from area schools. Clothes purchased include at least one outfit, shoes, underwear and socks, and a sweater or jacket. The average cost to shop for one child is $125. In 2017, 954 families participated. The program runs from august 1 through the beginning of school. Volunteers from cnu, henderson inc. , towne bank, ferguson, local high schools, police departments and fire departments, ymca boards of management and ymca members are paired with a child to shop for these items at kohl's, target or wal-mart. The first tee of the virginia peninsula is a branch of our y that reinforces values and provides healthy benefits through the medium of golf. By participating in the first tee, young people are introduced to the nine core values of honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy, and judgment which are incorporated throughout the program. Parents are encouraged to reinforce these behaviors by talking about them, what they mean, and what these behaviors can look like at home. Playing the game of golf can improve your quality of life as there are many physical, emotional and social benefits. Our program integrates the positive concepts of energy, play, safety, vision, mind, family, friends, school, and community with golf instruction. In 2017, we offered 23,675 opportunities for youth to improve their perspective on life. We are currently seeking out ways to deliver first tee programming to disadvantaged youth for little to no participant cost. We strengthen our communities with initiatives designed to serve the ever-changing needs of individuals and families. Our summer learning-loss prevention program gives hundreds of children the tools they need to stay on track academically through the summer months. In 2017, 3,453 youth participated in our summer learning-loss prevention program through y summer camp. Participants created 3,893 different stem projects and read over 21,130 books. Our service area consists of 989 square miles of water, not including public and private pools. Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children in the state of virginia. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. Children ages 5-14 most often drown in swimming pools and open water. Surprisingly, 58% of parents do not consider drowning a threat to their children. To help reduce this dreadful statistic, our endowment fund has pledged to offer aquatic safety classes at no cost for all second graders in our service area. Our goal is to reach each one of the 7,000 second graders that live in our service area by 2020. In 2017, 1,193 second-grade students participated in our safety around water program through this community service offering. Family volunteer day is held the weekend before thanksgiving. This program provides a vehicle for ymca volunteers to give back to the community by donating their time and warm thoughts. Each ymca branch collects non-perishable food items in their lobbies beginning at their october branch fall festivals. The branches collaborate with local service organizations to collect food items and recruit volunteers. On family volunteer day families come together to wrap, decorate boxes and fill them with food. The y works together with local agencies such as social services, link, help, and christian outreach to select families that will receive the food boxes. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the united states. The agency for healthcare research and quality (ahrq) estimates that the direct medical cost (total of all health care scosts) for cancer in the us in 2011 was $88. 7b. Cancer and its treatment can take a tremendous toll on a person's spirit, mind and body. They just want to begin to heal and reclaim their health. No one experiences cancer in the same way. Participants come to the program with different physical challenges and lifestyle goals. Livestrong at the ymca offers a no cost, caring, supportive exercise program filled with hope and love for cancer survivors. Participants take the friendships and encouragement they experience in the 12-week program and share the power of the program with others. Livestrong at the ymca has provided 253 participants with individualized attention and an approach to recovery that targets the areas they need to rebuild. One participant said, "i went to the cancer center for treatment. I came to the y to heal. "nicole white was a graduate of smithfield high school and a junior at virginia tech majoring in international studies when her life was taken during the shootings at tech on april 16, 2007. She was a lifeguard for our luter family ymca and volunteered many hours in the community. To honor nicole's passion to make her community a better place, our y awards at least one college scholarship annually to a smithfield high school student with demonstrated service to community.