YMCA of Central Massachusetts

YMCA of CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts is a cause-driven organization that is for youth development, for healthy living and for social responsibility.

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Labor Day Weekend Announcement

What a summer! Over 1,000 children had an amazing camp experience each day filled with sunshine, friendships and new adventures. As we celebrate Labor Day, and pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers, I want to appreciate and recognize our YMCA team who showed up every day ready to lead and serve. All branches of the YMCA of Central Massachusetts will be closing at Noon on Saturday, September 4th and will be closed on Sunday, September 5th and Monday, September 6th in honor of Labor Day. We will return on Tuesday, September 7th ready to deliver fantastic fall programming.

p.s. – Oh, there’s more! We know how hard YOU have worked over the past year too! As a congrats and thank you, we invite you to pick up a guest pass at your Branch’s Welcome Center between September 1st and September 15th to share your YMCA community with a family member or friend.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer!

 

An Amazing Day of Golf

Our 31st Annual YMCA Golf Classic was amazing! We are so proud to have such a wonderful group of caring and dedicated Mission Partners! Because of you, our YMCA community will continue to grow and provide support for all.

Special thanks go out to this year’s Tournament Sponsors: Thank you Cornerstone Bank! Thank you Trusted Tees Custom Apparel!

Interested in viewing the Tournament winners? Maybe you won one of our door prizes! CLICK HERE to view the list of winners.

Food distribution event at YMCA feeds 400 families

Original article by:
Marco Cartolano / Telegram & Gazette

 

WORCESTER — Cars reached across the YMCA of Central Massachusetts parking lot as volunteers loaded food and hygiene essentials for 400 families Tuesday.

Price Rite Marketplace and Feed the Children, in partnership with Kraft Foods and YMCA of Central Massachusetts, organized the distribution event as part of the supermarket’s Feeding Minds & Bodies campaign to support Feed the Children’s mission.

Feed the Children is a national nonprofit focused on alleviating childhood and family hunger. Joe Allegro, senior director of corporate partnerships at Feed the Children, said that each eligible family received 25 pounds of food, 15 pounds of other essential items Tuesday and a case of water.

Allegro said the food included non-perishable items such as peanut butter, canned vegetables, pasta and cereals. Families were also given personal care items such as toilet paper, toothpaste and feminine products. Families also received a children’s book to help children with their reading and backpacks with school supplies like erasers, pencils and notebooks.

Personal care items not covered by SNAP benefits

Personal care items are not covered by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and families often cannot afford them, Allegro said.

“Low-income families are often enrolled in the SNAP program, the supplemental nutrition program that the federal government provides for them,” Allegro said. “Often, you can’t buy shaving cream, toothpaste, personal care items. So that has to come out of pocket for these families and they’re not supported or supplemented by the federal programs.”

Feed the Children will go to areas where Price Rite has a store and bring a semi-truck filled with food to distribute to families. Organizations such as the YMCA are also essential for finding families that need the food the most, Allegro said.

David Connell, CEO YMCA of Central Massachusetts

David Connell, CEO YMCA of Central Massachusetts, said the YMCA connected with 400 families in the organization’s database to reserve food and supplies for them. Connell said the target area for the organization is within a three-and-a-half mile radius of the Main South neighborhood, with some coming from other parts of the city.

“When you start thinking of it from a collective basis, you’re talking about $200 worth of food supplies and also regular additional supplies,” Connell said. “That means two weeks or more in savings for a family that would have had to utilize other services or other resources.”

Connell said the YMCA has been serving meals to the community for the past couple of years, especially last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Agencies such as the YMCA, Worcester Public Schools and United Way of Central Massachusetts have been able to pool their information into a database that makes connecting with families easier, Connell said.

YMCA: Over 1 million meals in Worcester served over past year

The YMCA has served over 1 million meals in Worcester over the past year, Connell said.

“The need was there. Kids were out of school and working remotely. The need increased so we found a way to go and deliver the meals to the families versus them having to come to a location,” Connell said.

Price Rite provided funding, partnered with Kraft Foods and others

Price Rite provided funding for the food distribution and helped supplement food supply through both partnerships with vendors such as Kraft Foods and with their own product lines. Bill Devin, vice president of operations at Price Rite said about 25 Price Rite employees also volunteered to distribute food Tuesday. Devin said he considers the distribution an extension of the market retailer’s mission.

“Our mission is to provide affordable food to families in need. We always pride ourselves on having the best prices around because we understand that we’re trying to get everyone to stretch their dollar further,” Devin said.“Today’s event of giving back to the community is just another layer in that mission in terms of giving back to those in need who may not even have that dollar to spend.”

Price Rite has been organizing food distribution drives in their markets for 12 years, having partnered with Feed the Children for seven of those years. Devin said about 36,000 families have been fed through the campaign across the markets that Price Rite serves, and the campaign usually encompasses eight to 10 events a year.

Each family received a voucher for supplies in order to keep track of the distribution. The vouchers were timestamped for families to come at a specific time range Tuesday afternoon, Allegro said.

Pandemic worsens food insecurity; about 10% of Worcester’s population food insecure

The COVID-19 pandemic already made a precarious situation worse for many families who needed food assistance, Allegro said. He said about 10% of Worcester’s population is food insecure.

“These families have been hit the hardest, they were unemployed, or some were underemployed, to begin with. And when COVID hit, they became fully unemployed,” Allegro said. “They have to make hard decisions: Are they going to pay the rent? Are they going to pay the electric? Are they going to pay the heat? And sometimes food is the variable that they can move around a little bit.”

Maureen Binienda, superintendent of Worcester Public Schools

Maureen Binienda, superintendent of Worcester Public Schools, said Tuesday’s event is one of many programs that work to alleviate hunger among Worcester Public School students and families. She said that the school system also offers food pantries, grab-and-go meals for students that even go into the weekend and food trucks throughout the summer.

Binienda said she hoped people realized that the work to keep students and families fed continues after distribution events such as Tuesday’s.

“We do know that when this food is gone, hunger is still going to exist. So we have to try to solve this problem,” Binienda said.

Ongoing efforts in city to address hunger

Along with spreading community recognition of hunger in Worcester, Binienda also pointed to legislative efforts U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, has been championing to address hunger. Economic development and job opportunities are also important for addressing hunger in the city, Binienda said.

McGovern, who chairs the board of the Congressional Hunger Center, could not make Tuesday’s event, but Caitlin Hodgkins, policy director at McGovern’s office, read a letter from the congressman.

“We live in the richest country in the history of the world, yet no community is immune from hunger and food insecurity. Worcester is no exception,” McGovern’s said. “Feeding America estimates that 42 million of our fellow citizens may face hunger this year. While those numbers remain elevated as we emerge from a global pandemic that has claimed the lives of 600,000 of our fellow citizens and upended the lives of countless others, the sad reality is that we had a hunger problem long before this pandemic.”

In his letter, McGovern thanked the volunteers and organizers of Tuesday’s event and called for Congress to expand investments in SNAP, school meals, summer meals and tax credits for families. He also called for a White House conference on food, nutrition, hunger and health to work on a plan to end hunger by 2030.

Tim Garvin, president and CEO of United Way of Central Massachusetts

Tim Garvin, president and CEO of United Way of Central Massachusetts, called volunteers’ attention to children they could see at a nearby playground, saying they are among those who benefit from Tuesday’s event.

“Really, there’s one reason why we’re here. We saw them pass and they’re over in this little playground,” Garvin said. “That’s why we’re here. We want every one of those little children to go home well-fed, to have a great dinner, to wake up in the morning and be excited and happy to be able to play, to be able to learn.”

 

View the original article

 

View the story on Spectrum News 1 Worcester

 

5 Days of Action June 7-11, 2021

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts is participating in the Five Days of Action, June 7-11, 2021. The Five Days of Action is a week designed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse.

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts encourages adults and organizations to join in marking this special week as Central Massachusetts comes together to make the community a safer place for children to live, learn, and play. As summer activities and camps begin to ramp up, June is the perfect time to bring attention to the simple ways we can all make the children in our community safer.

To that end, The YMCA of Central Massachusetts will be focusing on the simple steps of KNOW. SEE. RESPOND. to help adults better protect children. When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together, we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations about how we can all work together to prevent it from happening.

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts, with support from the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, YMCA of the USA, Darkness to Light, the Redwoods Group Foundation, Praesidium, and the Monique Burr Foundation for Children have made materials available to help adults learn more about preventing child sexual abuse.

For more information about preventing child sexual abuse visit www.fivedaysofaction.org.

Materials are derived from YMCA of the USA’s “Know. See. Respond.” copyrighted in 2020.

5 Days of Action Worksheets

Sample Activities

Being a Trusted Adult

Who is a Trusted Adult?

Family Code of Conduct

Internet Safety

 

Materials are derived from YMCA of the USA’s “Know. See. Respond.” copyrighted in 2020.

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

  • One in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th
  • 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser.
  • Approximately 30% of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members.
  • 60% of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone.
  • False reports are rare. Research shows that only 4 to 8% of child sexual abuse reports are fabricated.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU BELIEVE A CHILD IS BEING ABUSED – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

  • You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion means that you have witnessed maltreatment or boundary violations, either in the child or adult, or both. Or, you have received a disclosure from a child about abuse, neglect, or boundary violations towards them.
  • Child sexual abuse reports should be made to the police and/or state child protective services.
  • Contact the Darkness to Light Helpline at 866-FOR-LIGHT or text LIGHT to 741741 to have questions answered by trained counselors at no charge.

About Darkness to Light

Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.

About Redwoods Group Foundation

The Redwoods Group Foundation supports programs that can change the world and helps them reach more people than ever before, through funding and backbone support. We currently focus on child sexual abuse prevention, drowning prevention, and growing the field of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.redwoodsgroup.com/about-us/redwoods-group-foundation.

About Praesidium

Praesidium specializes in preventing sexual abuse in organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults. Over a period in excess of 25 years, the company has reviewed over 4,000 cases of abuse within organizations to determine the root causes of sexual abuse within organizational settings. Praesidium employs more than 40 staff, including licensed social workers, lawyers, psychologists, health care researchers, and other experts. The company has served over 5,000 clients with a broad range of products and services to aid organizations in preventing abuse, including online and instructor‐led trainings; organizational risk assessments; model policies and incident investigations. Having trained more than one million people online and hundreds of thousands in person, Praesidium is the largest and most comprehensive sexual abuse risk management firm globally. For more information, visit https://website.praesidiuminc.com/wp/

About the Monique Burr Foundation for Children

The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by providing the best comprehensive, evidence-based prevention education programs. MBF prevention programs educate and empower children and relevant adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to the four types of child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect), exploitation, bullying, cyberbullying, human trafficking, digital abuse, and other digital dangers. MBF is now a leader in prevention education with our programs having reached over 4.5 million children throughout Florida and the United States. For more information, visit https://www.mbfpreventioneducation.org 

 

YMCA of Central MA Child Protection Guidelines

YMCA of Central MA Child Safety Awareness Brochure

Stop and Shop and give

We are so excited to share that the Central Community Branch YMCA has been selected to be a part of the Stop & Shop Community Bag Program, which is designed to make it easy for customers to contribute to their local community while supporting the environment.

For the month of June, each time a $2.50 reusable Community Bag is purchased at the Stop & Shop located at 545 Lincoln Street, Worcester MA, $1 will be donated to the YMCA, unless otherwise directed by the customer through the Giving Tag. This is a great way to raise awareness, support the environment and fundraise for our cause.

Let’s get started! We can begin by spreading the news to our friends and family. Call, send emails, and post on social media. The more people who learn about the program and purchase the Community Bag during the month of June, the more money we will raise.

To learn more about this program, please visit: www.stopandshop.bags4mycause.com

Help us share the message! Right Click on the images below to “Save As”. Share on your social media channels!

Rollstone Bank & Trust $25,000 donation

FITCHBURG – Rollstone Bank & Trust has made a $25,000 donation to the YMCA of Central Massachusetts for its annual campaign. The donation is earmarked to provide scholarships for Fitchburg youth to attend Camp Lowe, according to an announcement by the bank.

“The YMCA is a valued organization that does so much good in our community and we’re proud to support them,” said Martin F. Connors Jr., president and CEO of Rollstone Bank & Trust. “Summer camps like Camp Lowe help kids develop new skills and create lifelong memories. As a Fitchburg-based bank, RBT is very happy we can provide this opportunity for children from Fitchburg.”

The YMCA’s Annual Campaign is the vehicle that provides direct financial assistance to children and families as well as subsidizes critical youth development programming like after school programming, summer camp and teen leadership initiatives. Connected by a shared vision, volunteers, members, mission partners and staff work together to raise philanthropic dollars to ensure the Y’s programs and services remain accessible to families in our community, according to the bank.

“Our Y remains steadfast in our mission to strengthen those who need us most,” said David Connell, president and CEO at the YMCA. “With the generous support of mission partners, like Rollstone Bank & Trust, families can count on us for affordable child care and summer camp experiences that nurture the social and emotional development of children.”

“In communities across the nation, the Y is a leading voice on health and well-being. With a mission centered on balance, the Y brings families closer together, encourages good health and fosters connections through fitness, sports, fun and shared interests,” said Ted McDonnell, North County Branch Director for the YMCA of Central MA. “As a result, millions of youth, adults and families are receiving the support, guidance and resources needed to achieve greater health and well-being for their spirit, mind and body.”

View the original article on www.sentinelandenterprise.com

With the donation are (from left): Jim Hohman, Member of Board of Directors of YMCA of Central MA; Martin F. Connors Jr., President and CEO of Rollstone Bank & Trust; Chelsea DeBettencourt (Camp Director); Ted McDonnell, YMCA North County Branch Director; David Connell, President and CEO – YMCA of Central MA.

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