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I am the strong kids campaign coordinator for the YMCA of Okanagan
my role is to seek funds through the support of donors, businesses
our staff, our board, to ensure that children in youth throughout the Okanagan
can participate in YMCA programs.
I am the Membership Development Supervisor
and Financial Assistance Coordinator at the front desk
at the Kelowna Family Y
and what I do, is receive all the financial assistance applications that come
into the facility
and then review them and then I would either accept
or decline
the application, then contact the family.
I am Todd Simpson,
the campaign chair for the YMCA Strong Kids
I've done it for about five years now and it's just been a really rewarding experience
for me.
A lot of times especially since the recession hit, it's been a lot of
hard-working people who have just not been able to get a break
maybe they lost their jobs or they've been downsized
and their incomes have gone down as a result
so they are unable to
afford the kind of opportunities they like to provide for their children
and the kind of opportunities that are, I think, an necessity for the development of a healthy child.
The impact of this campaign
is really allowing
for the YMCA to create a place of social equality
where children from all backgrounds, have the opportunity to participate.
It espouses all the values that are
really important to us as a family
and we love that they're building
strong kids and strong little community members and it teaches them the social graces
through interaction. The pleases and thank you's, learning to value diversity
in their playmates and
being with kids from other families and other cultures
the teachers are top-notch, the Playing to Learn philosophy
has been great, in fact, when we pick them up
the kid's often say
"just wait, five more minutes, I want to do one more activity"
they really love coming here and look forward to it in the morning.
Going to Silver Lake has taught me a lot
it teaches me to be positive
it teaches me to learn new adventures
and basically to be open to new opportunities.
The YMCA is defiantly my second home, it's where I go after school its where is go when I'm board its defiantly been there whenever I've been down
at the Y currently I have my own program, it's called Zoned In
It's for kids aged 6 - 9. We play arts, crafts and games
And it really
makes me happy to see all smiles I make on the kids' faces. - I feel like they go to the Y
because they feel a sense of support, a sense of belonging and they feel like they can grow there. I see them growing, I see them developing, I see them turning into a good person.
So having the opportunity to help them to achieve their goals is priceless.
What a lot of people don't realize
is that families participating, can't necessarily afford to be there.
Our financial assistance numbers are huge in this community.
About 15 percent of them, at any given time
are on financial assistance. So that's what we're fundraising for, that's what makes us a charity
we're reaching out and trying to
address the needs
of those in our community
who need help
and need access to programs and services.
The biggest surprize is...Yes the YMCA is a charity. The next thing is the Strong Kids
campaign is the way the YMCA fundraises for children and youth
and so without the Strong Kids campaign
we wouldn't have the funds necessary
to ensure that the thousands of children that are participating every year on Finical Assistance
that do
would have that opportunity.
What I really love about the
Y Strong Kids is a hundred percent of your donation goes to helping kids
and kids right here in the Okanagan,
and that really means a lot to me.
If it weren't for
our volunteers and of course the generosity of our members and donors
and businesses throughout the Okanagan
we wouldn't be able to provide the kids the opportunities that we are.