Links  are:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meeting-Waters-YMCA/173820109351

http://www.meetingwatersymca.org/images/stories/fall_newsletter_09_reduced.pdf

http://www.meetingwatersymca.org/images/stories/by_the_numbers_09.pdf

http://animoto.com/play/BXElLlPY1Er6rx0Epynn0w

More information about Meeting Waters YMCA services in the Fall Mountain region is available at  www.meetingwatersymca.org. Donations to support the work of Meeting Waters YMCA in the Fall Mountain region can be made through the website or by sending your contribution to Meeting Waters YMCA, PO Box 511, Bellows Falls, VT 05101. For more information, email info@meetingwatersymca.org or call 802-463-4769.  CCB

Update on Meeting Waters YMCA’s Work in the Fall Mountain Region

     Never before in the Meeting Waters YMCA’s 114 year history has the non-profit charitable organization done as much to “build strong kids, strong families and strong communities” in the Fall Mountain region.  Unlike some of the Meeting Waters YMCA’s services in the Brattleboro, Bellows Falls and Springfield regions, all of the outreach to the Fall Mountain region is what they call, “mission work.” Their efforts in the Walpole area are not supported through fees-for-services or grants. The regional YMCA depends on donations to support this work.

     Examples of Meeting Waters YMCA’s service to the communities of the Fall Mountain area include its Youth & Government program in partnership with Fall Mountain Regional High School, its bus service that brings dozens of FM area kids to its Lewis Day Camp and teen Adventure Camps throughout the summer, and its commitment to Vision 2020.

     Youth & Government involves high school students in a year-long, hands-on experience to learn about how state government operates. Students research and write bills that pass through regional caucuses before making it onto the floor of a two-day Model Legislature held right in the Statehouse each May. Students choose from a variety of roles from Chaplain to Clerks, reporter to lobbyist, Supreme Court judge to Executive Councilor. Elected positions include Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President. Last year, Walpole’s Ian Zimmerman was elected Speaker of the House while Will Carmody was runner-up in the race for Governor. For the past four years, The FMRHS-MWYMCA Youth & Government delegation has been the largest in the state of New Hampshire with over 30 students participating each year. The program is co-led by Walpole residents Trina Carmody and MaryTherese Lester, both of whom work for Fall Mountain Regional High School. They are supported by Meeting Waters YMCA Senior Program Director Sue Fortier of Alstead. Meeting Waters YMCA provides financial assistance for any students who cannot afford the cost of the hotel for the two-day event at the State house. There is no other cost for participation in the Youth & Government program.

     For more than 45 years, Meeting Waters YMCA has been a solution for both parents and children during the summer months. Its Lewis Day Camp for 6-13 year-olds and Adventure Camps for 10-15 year-olds provide a summer-full of enriching programming for area youth while at the same time supporting their working parents with full-day care. Bussing from Walpole, Drewsville, Alstead, Langdon, Charlestown and eight Vermont communities as well as a robust financial assistance program make these camps accessible to all. While camp fees and state child care tuition assistance help cover most costs for operating the camps, Meeting Waters YMCA depends on donations to offset the cost of bussing ($25,000 each year) and financial assistance.

     One of Meeting Waters YMCA’s newest mission-driven outreach efforts is in support of Cheshire Medical Center-Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene’s “Vision 2020” which has the ambitious goal of making our region the healthiest in America by the year 2020. Meeting Waters YMCA has offered to be a lead partner in CMC-DHMC’s efforts in the Walpole area. Discussions are in the early phases but the focus of the partnership is likely to center around the use of the YMCA system’s Community Healthy Living Index. Meeting Waters YMCA has recently used this tool in three communities in Windham County to improve environmental and policy supports at organizational and community levels “to make the healthy choice the easy choice where people live, work, learn and play.” Other Meeting Waters YMCA services like its original “Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle” program and Healthy Family Home initiative may also be used as Vision 2020 resources.

     Meeting Waters YMCA volunteer leaders (including Board member Diane Myers-Miller of Walpole and former Board member Torrey Greene of Acworth) continue to work with staff leaders to explore other opportunities to address community needs in the Fall Mountain region. Examples include bringing Meeting Waters YMCA’s highly-acclaimed ASPIRE after-school program to the elementary schools in the FMRSD and to rekindle the Fall Mountain Area Healthy Youth Initiative.

    Meeting Waters YMCA is a charitable, non-profit, social service organization founded in 1895. Its programs serve children, teens and families from over 20 Vermont and New Hampshire communities throughout the Fall Mountain, Springfield, Bellows Falls and Brattleboro regions.