During the COVID-19 pandemic, our doors may have been closed for several months, but our Y continued to be open for good.

As we continue reopening our programs and services, we are here for our members, staff and community now more than ever – with the goal of being here FOREVER to serve our neighbors.

With ongoing support to our We Are Y Strong campaign, along with our members who have stayed with us throughout our closure into our reopening phases, we have been able to reach out and assist our community in a number of ways.

Support the below efforts by clicking GIVE TODAY and selecting the We Are Y Strong campaign.

GIVE TODAY

Here are some of the ways we are open for good:

  • We are now offering essential child care services for infants through children age 5, including a new full-day Kindergarten program.
  • We offer full-day and wrap programs for virtual learners in grades 1-5; working with local community partners, we have identified several families in most need of financial and academic support and have offered scholarships to assist them.
  • We offered a successful 2020 Summer Camp program, serving 60 campers and providing working families with a safe space for their children. We are currently planning for our 2021 Camp season. Click here for more information.
  • Our team members have made over 4,000 phone calls to check in on our members, and have visited numerous Y members outside their homes to brighten their day and see what they might need.
  • We partnered with several other community organizations on the first-ever Kindsgiving and distributed 75 Thanksgiving meals to local residents who were spending the holiday on their own. The remainder of the funds we raised from this event went to support local food banks.
  • We’ve collected an average of 300 pounds of food each month for local food pantries over the past year.
  • Our blood drives, in partnership with the American Red Cross, collected 71 pints of blood, which helped over 200 people.
  • For over 8 weeks, we conducted virtual YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program classes and our participants thrived – 10 lost at least 5%, some up to 10% of their body weight, reducing their chance of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. We continue to offer this program virtually, along with other chronic disease prevention programs.
  • We continued to engage our LIVESTRONG® at the YMCA participants, providing cancer survivors in our community with weekly social calls and workouts to help them continue healing in mind, body and spirit.
  • Along with community partners, we collected over 100 extension cords and phone chargers for local hospitals, along with hundreds of hair ties for nurses on the front lines of the pandemic.
  • We partnered with the Fanwood-Scotch Plains Rotary Club to distribute masks to our members who were unable to find any, and also distributed masks to help other community service organizations.
  • We have helped over 500 individuals stay healthy, active, engaged and inspired through our Healthy at Home and Family at Home Facebook groups.
  • We have supported members of our team who were financially impacted by the pandemic by assisting with emergent needs such as food costs through our employee Emergency Assistance Fund.
  • To help people stay strong and active, our team members have conducted over 100 hours of live group exercise classes, and continue to offer more each week.
  • We now offer over 150 videos on health and wellness, cooking, gardening and family fun on our YouTube channel and are adding more all the time.
  • We hosted our virtual United For A Cause 5K and Family 1-Miler, which is part of the Scotch Plains Mayors Wellness Campaign and held in conjunction with the Scotch Plains-Fanwood PTA Council.