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The Lebanon Valley
YMCA
Romeeka Gayhart
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for the United Way of Lebanon
County
We've all heard of the YMCA, even
if we don't know what the YMCA does in our community
we can all sing the chorus of the Village People song
and wave our arms around wildly. Still, before I started
working for the United Way of Lebanon County I have
to admit that I had never been in a YMCA before. Now,
I have to say that joining the YMCA and going daily
(alright, that's optimistic, but I try) has been one
of the best ways I've found to feel like I'm really
a part of Lebanon County's community.
I got the chance to sit down and talk
to Phil Tipton, Executive Director of the Lebanon
Valley Family YMCA. We all know that the YMCA is a
good place to do laps, or hit the treadmill but how
does the YMCA use the United Way funding to Live United
in Lebanon County?
"We're fortunate because we get
two streams of funding from the United Way" says
Tipton. One way that the YMCA uses the funding is
to make sure that any child can become a member. Tipton
explains, "with the money we get here we're able
to keep our youth membership down to 10.25 a month.
It's a really low rate. When I first got here it was
10 dollars and it's gone up only 25 cents"
Even with a low rate, the YMCA offers
a number of scholarship programs. Tipton says, "if
a family comes up to us, and they make under $55,000
a household they will receive some type of scholarship
funds. We do our annual campaign and we receive funding
from the United Way so through both of those we're
able to say that we'll turn no one away for a financial
inability to pay."
Mr. Tipton brings up a fact that I've
personally seen when I go to the YMCA on my lunch
break: "What's sort of neat about us is that
you could be upstairs on the treadmill and we're fortunate
to have doctors and attorneys… and right next
to is maybe someone who doesn't have that same resource…
and no one knows"
Mr. Tipton explains that scholarships
are often considered in unusual circumstances. "One
great example, we had someone talk to us yesterday.
The husband and wife are both professionals, he had
an aneurism and has been out of work now for a couple
of months, she had to quit work because he needs 24
hour care and they have nine year old daughter that
they were going to pull from the program, so we pulled
together scholarship money to keep her in our gymnastics
program. That is a time, I feel, when families really
need us. At least there's a mainstay for her, she
still doing something that she was doing beforehand
and so we were very happy to help her."
Another way that the YMCA utilizes
donated money is helping to keep children in Lebanon
off the streets and safe. "This past year we
were able to use funding to open our skateboard park
to the public and to keep it fully staffed at all
times, and obviously, fully insured. The United Way
funds helped us to do that." Tipton says that
the this was not always the case, "in the past
there was a small fee to enter the park and we noticed
that even that small fee, I think it was a dollar,
had kids staying away and so this past year we were
able to open that up. We average about 35 kids a day,
35 to 40 kids just hanging out and when I say that,
teens come there and it's not like they stay for an
hour or so, they stay all day. So we make sure that
there's staff, that they're safe, they wear their
helmets, that there's no smoking, there's no cussing
and that they follow the same rules as the YMCA."
The YMCA can be like a giant playground
for kids and adults alike, it has a Kids' Corner so
parents can work out and kids can play, summer camps,
gymnastics programs, swimming teams, sports teams,
yoga groups and free hot cocoa! So what about when
children are not at the YMCA facilities?
"Actually, the number one use
of the United Way funding goes to our childcare programs,"
Tipton explains. "We have two sites that we offer
preschool programs at and then we offer before and
after school care at 13 different elementary schools
throughout the county." Darcy Straka, Child Care
Director at the YMCA, explains how the child care
programs function: "When families have difficulty
paying for their child care, we ask them to register
with CCIS." CCIS, Child Care Information Services,
is a Federally-funded child care subsidy program.
"There is a very long waiting list and that is
when we give a United Way scholarship to the family,"
says Ms. Straka. "Once they are approved through
CCIS, we can give that scholarship to someone else,
and we never lack for families in need."
When asked why he thinks the YMCA
decided to advocate for children, Tipton smiles. "One,
it's based on our heritage. The Y has been around
for over a hundred and ten years now and the Y has
morphed as it's grown in its age. At one point it
was helping soldiers overseas, during World War I
and II the YMCA was critical in helping the government,
and throughout its history the YMCA has looked at
what the community needs and moved in the direction
that the community needs it to be moving. Back in
the 70's the YMCA saw that there were a lot of latch
key kids, with parents having to go to work whereas
before mom might have stayed home. The Y noticed that
trend… and now we are the largest provider of
child care in the United States. So that type of need
basically comes from the community so my board of
volunteers and community leaders sort of dictates
what direction we're going to go."
I asked Phil about the future of the
YMCA. "Our big thing over the next five to ten
years is fighting obesity," says Tipton. "Right
now studies are coming out saying our children are
probably not going to live as long as we do because
of this health epidemic. That's one of things, nationally,
that the Y is looking at and saying 'okay, how can
we make difference.'"
For more information about the
Lebanon Valley YMCA
Check them out at www.lebanonymca.org
or call: 717-273-2691
A.L. HANFORD CENTER:
201 North 7th Street • Lebanon, PA 17046 •
Phone: 273-2691
YMCA at the VA
Building 24 • South Lincoln Avenue • Lebanon,
PA 17042 • Phone: 273-2046
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