Regional Ymca Of Western Connecticut Inc

Membership: the regional ymca is a cause-driven organization, committed to strengthening our community through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. We are a positive force, and everything we do is in the service of building a better community. For over 160 years, the regional ymca has worked to create bright futures for children and adults in the greater danbury area, through a multitude of means, and as a result, more than 10,300 local community members are receiving the support, guidance, and resources they need to achieve greater health in spirit, mind, and body. This is particularly important as our community faces new challenges each day, such as an obesity crisis, chronic disease, disconnect within families, and isolation felt by growing numbers of older adults. Our myriads of programs help shape different facets of people's lives, whether it is teaching children to swim and the value of water safety, encouraging teens to become leaders in the community or educating people young and old about the importance of fitness and nutrition. Our programs promote connections, support systems and friendships between members and staff, as well as building self-confidence and self-esteem. Members are encouraged and supported in becoming their best self. Because we believe everyone has the power to make their lives better, we open our doors to all no matter who they are or where they come from. The regional ymca brings together people from all backgrounds and supports those who need us most. At the regional ymca, no child, family, or adult has been turned away for an inability to pay, and financial assistance is offered to all who cannot afford membership. In 2024, we were able to provide $62,041 in financial aid, allowing people access to the community of the regional ymca.

Heal thy living: they is our community's leading voice on heal th and well-being. We help people and families build and maintain healthy habits for spirit, mind, and body in their everyday lives. People engage in our heal thy living activities, such as family wellness, group exercise classes, personal fitness, programs for active older adults, water activities, diabetes prevention & management, and healthy lifestyle and nutrition education. These programs aim to provide education, increase activity, raise awareness, and showcase the ability one has to take control of their life through making heal thy choices.but they means more than exercise and heal thy living programs to so many people. A huge part of being heal thy and active is the social aspect. We have so many programs that connect people, offer them support and resources it's amazing. They strives to be a place where people feel safe and comfortable, a friendlyenvironment. We're connecting people through our core values of caring, honesty,respect and responsibility. We're open to everyone in the community and ourinclusive setting makes us a place where people of all walks of life can meet up anda place where new friendships form through common interest.we held our 13th lose to win competition in 2022 with 42 participants to help peopleget on track with their heal th while connecting with others and receiving thesupport and encouragement of a team. Participants lost a collective 356 pounds!we are also a participating partner with renew active, a program offered to activeolder adults through their medicare supplement insurance which offers a basicmembership and access to amenities. Over 971 seniors stayed fit and active throughthis program in 2023.we've expanded our nutritional and heal thy living programs, taking a stand againstchronic diseases such as diabetes, and giving people the tools to make betterdecisions regarding their health. More than 140 participants engaged in ourevidence based heal th programs in 2023. See the following details.1 in 3 u.s. Adults has pre-diabetes; most of them don't know it. As many as 50,000 adultsin our service area are at risk of developing diabetes. We've teamed with areaheal th leaders to screen and identify residents with pre-diabetes and invite them toenroll in our diabetes prevention program. Now in its eighth year, the programteaches participants about heal thy eating, portion control, reading packagelabels and exercising - small lifestyle changes that will have lasting effects ontheir health. 600+ participants have either graduated from the program or arecurrently enrolled, getting the support they need from our specialists on staff.enhance fitness, a 16-week intervention for older adults, improves mobility andimproves strength and flexibility to prevent falls, the leading cause of disability inour older adult population.the blood pressure self-monitoring (bpsm) program targets individuals with highblood pressure to assist them in managing and monitoring their blood pressureconfidently. The program also offers essential nutrition programs to promotedietary practices that can improve hypertension. This past year, 40 peopleparticipated in the bl-lingual program, both virtually and in-person.our president is a member of the steering committee for the community heal thimprovement plan (chip). This group provides chronic disease prevention programs,such as the ymca diabetes prevention program, to members of our community,especially high-risk and low-income seniors and hispanic residents living in thegreater danbury area.as the area's heal th & fitness leader, we continued to take our heal th expertise andprogramming into the community to combat one of the region's greatest heal ththreats: childhood obesity. All of our childcare programs are following hepastandards (heal thy eating and physical activity standards), serving only heal thysnacks and beverages, including holiday and birthday celebrations, and screen timeis kept to the minimum needed for students to complete homework assignments. Allour programs have made a tremendous effort to make sure children in their careare physically active on a daily basis through play time, snow time, swimminglessons, and indoor fitness.these programs are examples of how we deliver the resources and support thatempower our members to effect lasting personal change. We're here day in and dayout to provide the resources needed by our community, the greater danbury area,to address the most pressing social issues.