“I started at the Y in Union when I was 17 as a camp counselor. I had no intention of working for the Y as my career. When I graduated college, I decided to work for the Y one more summer and then find a ‘real job.’ After the summer was over, a job became available at the Union Y. I stayed there and kept getting promoted. Over the years, I’ve moved up within the Y movement and I came to Fanwood-Scotch Plains as CEO in 2012. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. How we’ve continued to offer quality child care services, even though we closed Grand Street; how we serve even more kids in our before and after care programs; how we’ve developed our board and volunteers, and how we’ve made ourselves a community resource. One of my goals was to make a difference in the community and I believe we’ve done that. These are definitely challenging and unprecedented times and I miss seeing everyone – seeing the people in the café, in the pool, the Child Care kids, members and staff. And I worry about our members, especially the ones who come to the Y to get social interaction and work out. I know how important it is to them. My hope when the Y reopens is that we are quickly able to resume where we left off and that people come back, and we can be back to as normal as normal can be. I think we all need that. Nowadays, with everything that has happened in the world, the Y is a place where people are able to leave their stresses at the door. It’ so hard right now being responsible for an organization with members and staff. We want to be a resource in the community and we are trying to continue to do that through our virtual offerings. But no matter what happens, when we come out of this, the Y will be here for everyone. We will continue to position ourselves in the community to support people’s needs.”