Stephanie Roberts currently serves as the Senior Executive Director at the Gordon Family YMCA. She shares her thoughts on the events of the past year and a half and where we are as an association today.
“The whole world is short-staffed. Please be kind to those who showed up.”
I recently saw this sign, and it caused me to think about all that we’ve been through in these last 18 months, and for all of us that have and continue to show up.
Each of us has been met with someone (or several someones) who didn’t share this kindness in their conversation with us and continued to expect more than we were able to give. Yet through it all, I know that we work hard to remember that they too have had experiences these last 18 months that are shaping the way they are choosing to speak to us, and that we are often not the cause of this frustration, but the person who is standing in front of them at this moment. Lucky us. But we all know that kindness matters, and I’m incredibly grateful when all of us are treated this way.
None of us has been unaffected by COVID. Some of us have loved ones that we’ve lost due to COVID; some of us get to be a bit more on the sidelines of all that is going on. But our commonality is that each of us has had to accept multiple changes due to this pandemic.
And yet, even in these varying levels of emotions and personal experiences with all of this, I look to the team serving at the Y that is here now and was here throughout it all, and how you continue to show up!
There is so much pride that I feel when I think of PKC staff, and sincere gratitude to be a part of the journey with you. When we found out who was staying on during our community center closures and who needed to step back, regardless of what it meant for you, everyone showed up! You showed up for your staff teams to support them in these scary times. You showed up for our members to make sure they knew they were part of our community, whether our doors were open or not. You showed up to continue to support our essential workers by making sure their children had a safe place to be while they were at work, and the list goes on and on. Many of you showed up and became teachers to your own children, support for your neighbors and community that couldn’t get out of their houses yet still had so many needs, as well as showing up to become logistics professionals by coordinating schedules and setting up events and calls on Zoom and Face Time (and a dozen other platforms) to be intentional about connections and relationships.
When it was time to re-open our community center doors last September, I think of each of you that answered the call to come back, even when you knew it was going to be tough. And it’s only now, a year later, that I think of our times sitting with face shields that steamed up frequently, needing tons of gloves on-demand, and holding thermometers to check the temperature of each person that walked through our doors with some laughter. I think of asking the same COVID questions multiple times a day, and when you would get that person that would say ‘YES’ to them all versus ‘no’ and the bit of panic that would come from both the member and staff as we would work to explain what they had just stated to us! I think of how kind each of our teammates was when you would listen to so many questions, concerns, and personal beliefs that would come up from those that came in our buildings, regardless that it was the 15th time you had heard the same story!
In the moments that I get to reflect on all that has happened, I think of the incredible growth that has occurred in me, like so many others. For the first time in my life, I sat alongside teammates, staff, and friends wondering what our future was going to look like when we knew that the Y’s were going to have to close for an indefinite amount of time. Such an unsettling and scary feeling. When decisions were made and I was tasked to be one of the staff to help make sure that the Y’s in PKC continued on and were going to reopen when the guidelines allowed, I was happy and crushed all at the same time. And then when we finally got the green light to welcome staff back to the Y to serve our communities, I was excited, sad, scared, and another thousand emotions beyond that. So much change that was happening every day that felt overwhelming, but also never doubting that I would be back at it the next day.
And while there is so much to be considered when reflecting on these last 18months, I continue to be impressed with the way that each of you shows up. Each day presents its own challenges, and in my 20 years of working for the Y, it always seems like each day there is something new that happens that we haven’t quite experienced before. But you show up. When the challenges that come up aren’t even when you’re at the Y, but in your life that happens outside of the Y, you continue to show up. And when you have that interaction with a member, colleague, or a person on the street that shares their appreciation for all that you’re doing, you’re reminded that THIS is why you continue to show up!
I’m incredibly hopeful for the future, for the good in humanity, and for us taking on whatever mountain is on our path. And this hope stems from seeing some of the best of the best working within our association. I know that each of you is ready to serve at the highest level, regardless of the conversation or situation that you just walked away from, and when the day is over and you’re not sure that you can do it again, I’ve seen over and over again how you’re back at it the next day with the same energy and compassion as the day before.
Thank you for being here for our members and our teams. Thank you for bringing your best self every time you put on your Y shirt and nametag to serve. And Thank YOU for showing up! It matters so much more than you know and you make a difference each day with every person you come into contact with!