YMCA kicks off local fundraising drive
By BILL RICHMOND
City editor
The Randolph County YMCA Friday kicked off its annual "My Y" fundraising campaign. The campaign goal is to raise $55,000 by February 29.
"Last year we raised $58,000, surpassing our goal of $50,000," said local YMCA Executive Director Ceann Bales. "The goal amount is based on local needs, to provide scholarships and subsidize all our our memberships and programs. It is important that we are able to keep them at a cost the community can afford."
Twenty-eight volunteer campaigners Friday morning attended a fundraising campaign kickoff celebration at the YMCA. The volunteers will each make personal calls and visits to at least 10 members and friends of the YMCA for the purpose of raising contributions to attain the campaign goal. Each volunteer is assigned a list, according to people they know, of prior donors and potential Y supporters. The volunteers will call and/or meet with people on their lists over the course of the month.
Bales said new or expanded Y programs, to be supplemented by the drive include:
€ ROCK, a substance abuse prevention after school program for children ages 10-14. The program will expand to Randolph Southern and Union Elementary School.
€ Girlfriends Unlimited, a fitness and healthy lifestyle program with the motto "Changing hearts, changing lives, one girlfriend at a time." Meetings (the first Tuesday of each month) emphasize emotional and spiritual, as well as physical health.
€ Girls on the Run, a pilot program designed to educate girls in grades 3-5 and prepare them for a lifetime of self respect and healthy living. The program will start the second week of February at Monroe Central and Randolph Southern.
€ The local Y will also offer the Creating Positive Relationships program, offered the past nine years by St. Vincent Randolph Hospital. Creating Positive Relationships is a abstinence-based pregnancy prevention program to be offered this school year and in the future by the YMCA.
The fundraising drive will also help regular Y programs such as the Chenoweth Child Care Facility; YMCA Preschool; Y Kids Club; Summer Camp; aquatics programs; the Ys OWLS; aerobics, fitness and weight management programs; and youth and adult sports leagues - to name only a handful - to continue to thrive and grow.
Bales said the annual campaign serves several important purposes: To provide funding for programs that require a subsidy to cover their operating costs; to furnish financial assistance to those who cannot afford to pay program or membership fees; to tell the YMCA story in the community; to gather feedback from the community; and to nurture an appreciation for the value of voluntary community service and charitable giving.
