Young Mens Christian Association Of Norwich

Health and Well being for AllThe 2024 calendar year continues to see growth and increase participation and facility usage since the challenging Covid years. We continue to provide needed programming to our community with a membership base of approximately 2751 members. An increase of about 6% since 2023 but still a significant decrease by 30% from our pre COVID-19 membership numbers of 2019. The YMCA offers unique programs and services to our membership base throughout the year creating supportive relationships and environments that are needed for successful pursuit of health and wellbeing in spirit, mind and body. Men, women and children of all ages, faiths, backgrounds, abilities and income levels improve health and well being at the YMCA. In 2024, we provided over $89,040 in financial assistance to overcome economic barriers for participation in YMCA programs and usage of the YMCA facility. In 2009 the YMCA Board of Directors unanimously voted to implement a new membership program for community and YMCA members that have lost their jobs within the past twelve months. A complimentary three-month membership will be provided for adults and families that qualify for this program. In 2024, one family and two adults took advantage of this program offering. It is great to see this program operating and being utilized, as it is such a beneficial program to those that directly benefit from it. Helping people of all ages and abilities develop health in spirit, mind, and body is the core of the YMCA movement. We encourage through active participation, programs that help individuals create realistic goals for self-improvement and emphasize disease prevention through regular exercise, proper nutrition, stress management, and health education. Recreational athletic programs for youth and adults promote teamwork, sportsmanship, fair play, interaction, and development of social and physical skills.We offer many adult classes and leagues such as: Basketball, Racquetball, Swimming, Pickleball, Group Exercise, Yoga, Personal Fitness, and Active Older Adult classes and social programs. During 2023, our group exercise classes, water fitness classes, senior classes and pickleball saw the largest increase in participation as members and our community longed to recreate and exercise together again after several years of Covid restrictions. Our senior population continues to grow with the baby boomers retiring and also the uptick with pickleball being the fastest growing sport.Collectively we are the largest youth sports provider in Chenango County. Program offerings include Basketball, Flag football, Baseball, Tee Ball, Swim Team, Indoor Soccer, Outdoor Soccer, Instruction Swim Lessons, and Preschool gym and movement classes. With affordable participation rates and inexpensive membership rates youth play a significant role at our facility and our program offerings. For example, our Youth Sports participants had over 995 youth, ages five through twelve in our various youth sports programs, which represent all socio-economic demographics, races, and religions within our programs and community.Water Fitness programs are ideal for members of all ages and increases physical strength and endurance while using the water as a natural resistance. Our classes promote healthy habits, develop new relationships, and introduce new active lifestyles. In addition to the actual class, members are engaged with classmates outside of the class too, as socialization, and the direct benefits of water exercise for many of the participants. In addition to Health & Wellness classes at the YMCA in Norwich, we also conduct outreach classes in the following rural communities of Oxford, Gilbertsville, New Berlin and Greene. In 2024, we were able to continue offering a wide variety of program offerings in communities such as: youth sports, lifeguard classes, fitness classes, after school childcare programming in two additional communities besides Norwich. During 2024, the Norwich YMCA continued to open its doors to community-based organizations at no cost. It is the belief at the YMCA that we are a community based charitable organization that is supported by our community, and it is our philosophy to assist other agencies providing support to our community. The number of outside groups utilizing the Y continues to grow and it is our desire to support local groups is still strong and supportive.

Family StrengtheningParents spend less time per week with their children today than they did in 1960. The YMCA is committed to helping families build stronger bonds by bringing them together in a variety of activities that help form stable relationships, enhance communication and promote healthier lifestyles. Our YMCA helps families build stronger bonds, achieve greater work/life balance and become more engaged with their communities. In 2024, the YMCA awarded $50,000 in financial assistance to provide facility access to families, single parent families, adults, and children. This financial assistance equals 57% of all YMCA financial assistance awarded in 2024. In 2009 the YMCA Board of Directors unanimously voted to implement a new membership program for community members and YMCA members that have lost their jobs within the past twelve months. A complimentary three-month membership is awarded to all qualifying participants with proper validation of job loss. During 2024, this program benefit was utilized very minimally, but we were able to offer this assistance and will continue to offer. This program will remain intact to support families in need as we continue to recover from the pandemic. The YMCA was able to continue offering key signature community events in 2024, including family nights, Halloween Parade, Healthy Kids Day, Gus Macker Basketball Tournament, Turkey Trot, and our assistance with the Helping Hands Food Program. These events provide an opportunity for family connectedness and the opportunity to serve our community.Our Family Swim program gives families the opportunity to share time together with their family. Our Family time in our Kids Gymnasium play zone provides children and families the opportunity to play while exercising, building trust, and having fun. We were thankful that these programs are available for our community. All of our Youth Sports programs allow for family involvement and participation. All of the coaches, officials, scorekeepers, and assistants are volunteer parents assisting with their childs recreational experience. In 2024, five hundred seventy families saw their children participate in YMCA youth sports, connecting parents and children while learning skills, sportsmanship, teamwork, and socialization in a competitive and recreational setting.In addition to programming at the YMCA, we also offer programming opportunities for families at numerous offsite locations throughout Chenango County including After School Program multiple sites in Norwich, Oxford and Greene while also providing health and wellness classes in Oxford and Gilbertsville, NY. By providing more opportunities in our rural communities, families will have more opportunities to recreate together. The YMCA offers a Child watch program for families that wish to utilize the YMCA. Child Watch is a supervised program that is designed for infants, toddlers and young members, in a supervised setting, permitting parents can an opportunity to participate in YMCA programming for their spirit, mind and body. This is a great opportunity for families wishing to begin their health and wellness journey and family recreational opportunities together. We have found that our community needs us more than ever as we all try to find a safe place for childcare, health and wellness initiatives and to recreate friendship with our community and friends. Our relationship with the Norwich Helping Hands program continues to grow as we provide food, household products, hygiene products and more to families in our community in need. Each month one hundred plus families have directly benefitted from this amazing community collaboration. This is another program that did not stop during the pandemic, and we collectively became stronger while helping more people in our community in need.