This week I spent some time helping Roger with some of the Youth & Family activities. Thursday, February 21st the Delaware Community YMCA hosted a special event to celebrate the 1st graduation ceremony of the newest group of Teen Leaders.Teens participating in the program have spent the last six weeks completing a formal training program designed to give the kids the opportunity to learn various job and life skills.  Each week the kids focused on a different topic, including: interviewing skills, customer service skills, and even writing a resume. My own son participated in the program and the graduation ceremony. 

Much of the programming and events that happen at the YMCA are supported with volunteers. This base group of Teen Leaders will become a force of volunteers that will help out with various events, projects, and support staff at the Community building. The teens will do things like fold towels, mop the floors, help at the rock-wall, and even become assist counselors for summer camp programs. These children will become invested in the YMCA culture and become future leaders within their community. I have been very impressed at the ways the YMCA is able to bring people in from the community, children and adults, and integrate them in to the YMCA culture and organization. 

As I said, I spent a good part of my week helping with the Teen Leader graduation ceremony. I helped Roger with the graduation certificates and also drafted the “official” Teen Leader Club Pledge.  Thursday night was the ceremony and I was impressed to see over forty kids participate in the graduation!  Local community leaders and YMCA directors were on-hand to give speeches and encourage the kids.
I have included a picture of my son receiving his certificate and a group picture.

With baseball season fast approaching, it was time to prepare sponsorship request letters to be sent to area businesses. Delaware City has a very successful youth baseball league each spring. My mentor, Jeremy Byers, has been overseeing this program for several years. Now, as part of the YMCA, the baseball programming falls to the Sports Department as a recreation program. Team sponsorships are important to keep the program running and provide much needed equipment and supplies for the teams. This is also a great way for area business to support youth development programs and its great advertising.
 
To prepare for the number of softball and baseball sign-ups I worked on setting up several binders that we will use to keep things organized. The binders are organized by each baseball/softball division and by gender. We will use these binders during the drafts for the teams that will be held in April. Jeremy’s experience with the baseball program is invaluable and many of the participants sign-up because of years of great experiences they have had in the program. I have learned the importance of building relationships with the businesses in the community; many have been sponsoring teams for years. Families support the businesses and many have had generations of children participate in the baseball leagues throughout
the years.

This afternoon I attended a meeting with the building leaders on the subject of the Central Ohio YMCA’s annual giving campaign. A representative from the Metropolitan Staff came to give a presentation to the staff and outline some of the new technology the YMCA began using this year. Andrew Roberts, Central Ohio YMCA President, also visited and spoke with the staff about the importance of the annual campaign. This year, in combination with the YMCA’s People Helping People giving program, the YMCA is launching Champions for a Cause. Individuals within the YMCA community are encouraged to become Champions for their branch. By sharing their success stories they are able to reach out to others and help
contribute to the success of their YMCA branch.


I was encouraged to hear some of Andrew’s personal success stories and understand how the annual giving campaign supports the many programs and community outreach offered by the YMCA. Everyone that attended the meeting worked through the steps to set up a “Champions Page” and establish a personal fundraising goal. The discussed some of the ways they would reach out to the Delaware members and recruit more Champions to help support the cause. It was very interesting to see the fundraising challenges of a non-profit organization and discuss the various ways to make the most impact within a community