A message from Charlie Davis, President and CEO | March 2021
Two weeks ago, I shared our organization’s year-end results with you, describing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our Y in 2020. Over the next few weeks, it’s my intent to share with you the many different ways our Y continues to show up in the community to help meet the many critical needs throughout Pierce and Kitsap counties. I am proud of how we have stepped up to continue delivering services even when we, too, have been severely impacted by the crisis. Our ability to deliver services is a direct result of your support for our Y. I want to celebrate that fact as well as acknowledge your contribution to this Y and your community. The simple truth is: your contributions to the Y are saving and transforming lives. Your support of the Y has enabled us to continue delivering essential services during these challenging times.
Throughout the pandemic, Tara Harkness, Executive Director of YMCA Child Care, and I have been meeting regularly with school district superintendents to understand their needs, as well as how we can best work together to meet the needs of students and their families. These are complex circumstances and school districts have relied on us to help them address these needs. Our stance throughout the crisis has been consistent – to adapt to whatever individuals and the community need to thrive – and we have been extremely flexible to meet those needs.
One way our Y has supported local schools, parents, and families is through our distance learning program. We have been operating 14 distance learning sites throughout Pierce and Kitsap counties since September 2020. Parents are able to drop off their children to complete their online schooling from a safe and secure environment under the supervision and care of positive adult role models. In addition to supporting these kids with their schooling, we are offering enriching activities including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), arts and crafts, physical activities, healthy meals and snacks, and so much more. For the 650 families we have been serving, the Y has been a lifeline, providing learning support as well as critical social-emotional and mental health support for these youth and families.
Early in the school year, when we met with the Peninsula School District, they expressed concern about the families living in the remote areas on the Key Peninsula. Some of their students were struggling to engage in the remote learning process due to a lack of support in the home or broadband internet service. We heard several stories of working parents who had no other option but to leave their children at home because schools were closed. We also learned that many areas of the Key Peninsula don’t have access to broadband internet, so families have no internet access at all.
Understanding that the need on the Key Peninsula was dire, our staff at YMCA Camp Seymour saw an opportunity to support these youth and families by transforming their dining hall into a distance learning center. The dining hall has capacity for 300 people, but with state-mandated social distancing requirements, we are able to accommodate 38 people. This provides each child with adequate space to spread out, have their own workspace, and complete their online schooling. Camp’s kitchen team is preparing and serving healthy meals and snacks to the kids in our care. We also upgraded Camp’s internet connection to ensure every child had adequate broadband access in order to access their online classrooms. Our Camp staff are literally going the extra mile by transporting some of the kids in the program to and from their homes and our program.
Our team at Camp has stepped-up in a huge way and the Seymour Scholars program has been a resounding success. The children are excelling in their schooling, are developing positive relationships with our adult staff and their peers, and are able to experience the many activities unique to Camp, including climbing, archery, outdoor environmental education, and boating, among many others.
Seymour Scholars went from an idea in our heads to a reality in less than a month because of donors like you. Many local individuals, businesses, churches, and foundations made lead gifts to launch Seymour Scholars. We’ve received gifts from donors in Puyallup and Silverdale, and all areas in between, all helping to support kids on the Key Peninsula. Your generosity is inspiring and is changing lives.
I received the email message below from a mom of one of the scholars in the program. I think her words will let you know what the impact has been:
“I’ve been meaning to get this email out to you ... time just flew by with the holidays. It’s hard to even put it in words how grateful I am for the program that’s going on over at Camp Seymour. I think I briefly told you ... being a single mom, working full time, having COVID hit, and schools shutting down ... it felt like despair. Really not being able to provide for my kids, seeing them decline severely, and not seeing any options.
I was literally in tears talking to my sister when she told me she found out about your camp. When you were able to get Vaughn in, it was a huge relief just to have some sense of hope. Then I saw his happy spirit coming back the first day of camp and within days, he was caught up in school. He is still doing great in his schoolwork. They keep him on task and get him outside to play. It’s just a wonderful place for him! He was actually anxious to get back after the break.
I really can’t express what it’s meant. He really is thriving and so are my older children.
I plan to keep him in until schools are back to the normal full time. The new part-time proposed school schedule would be a logistics nightmare.
Thank you so much for being a big part in working this out. I hope you and all those involved could really see the life changing impact you’ve had on my children and me.”
You really do make a difference in the lives of Vaughn and so many other youth. Thank you for being a vital part of our Y. Stay strong, stay with us.