Hello,
 
Traditionally, people wore costumes to ward off ghosts, but at the Y, we welcome all ghosts, goblins, witches and apparitions--to our annual, free community Halloween party!

Bring the whole family and your friends down to celebrate the eve of All Hallows' Day!

The Halloween party is appropriate for all ages. Party-goers can enjoy a Monster Mash dance party in the Movement Center, bounce on the inflatables in the Basketball Gym, play games like spooky Bingo, grab some snacks in Fun Club, create ghoulish crafts and swim. You'll have a haunting good time in the Tennis Center playing ping-pong, pic kleball and tennis or jump into the fun and watch a Halloween movie in the Small Pool. Costumes are encouraged!

Spooky Fun For Everyone at the Y
What: Family-friendly Halloween Party
Who : Open to all ages; for Y and community members
Date: Friday, Oct. 25 
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Cost: Pay what you are able or bring a food donation for First Place Family Shelter.
No need to register.
Note: This is not a drop-off event. Parents must accompany their children.


Safeguard yourself against the flu right here at your Y!
Flu season can be nasty and dangerous. Many people protect themselves with a flu vaccine, which covers 4 strains of the flu.  

Flu vaccines cause antibodies to develop in the body about 2 weeks after vaccination. These antibodies provide protection against infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But hectic lifestyles can keep many of us from getting a flu vaccine. Your Y wants to make it convenient and simple! Register for our flu shot clinic, and get your vaccine right after gentle yoga, low-impact aerobics or a cardio workout in the Health and Wellness Center.

What: Flu shot clinic by Rx Clinical Services
Who: Adults or children age 7 or older (Younger children need to get their vaccines at their pediatrician's office)
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 23
Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Place: The Y's Beck Center
Cost: Bring your health insurance card for private coverage or pay $30 out of pocket (Cash, checks and credit cards accepted).
Register HERE or email questions to [email protected]

Note: Other vaccinations available at the same time are: Hep-A, Hep-B, DTap, PPV, HPV and Shingles.

Wear your Y love on your sleeve!
For the first time, your Y is opening a temporary online store for you to purchase Y merchandise. Place your order between Oct. 21 and Nov. 10 and then pick up your Y gear at a pick-up party here at the Y.

What: 3-week online opportunity to purchase Y gear
Dates to order: Place order between Oct. 21 and Nov. 10
Dates to pick-up: Pick-up parties are Monday, Dec. 2, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. or Tuesday, Dec. 3, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Where: Online orders HERE
Pick-up parties in the Y's Beck Center
More information: At the Welcome Center or 541.686.9622.

Bike Rodeo at Y afterschool sites teaches kiddos bike safety, alternative means of transportation
Through a unique partnership, Y afterschool kiddos learn about bikes, bike safety, the importance of physical activity and how bikes can be a means of alternative transportation.

Your Y's Youth Development department partners with 4J's Safe Routes to School (SRTS) to deliver programming to Y afterschool kiddos. Not only do students learn the proper hand signals and how to avoid obstacles, Safe Routes instructors focus on having fun while riding a bike. Everyone learns the proper helmet fit and can try pedal or balance bikes depending on their ability.

Safe Routes to School is all about creating safe, convenient and fun opportunities for 4J students to walk and bike to and from schools. SRTS works to increase physical activity and improve walking and bicycling safety conditions on routes to and from school and throughout the community.

Participation in EUG Parade spreads Y humor
Mayor Lucy Vinis shared laughs
with Y staff Holly and Kim 
Y staff and members showed parade spectators the Y's fun, down-to-earth attitude and sense of humor at the EUG Parade last month.

The Y's participation stood out so much among the 55 parade groups that your Y took home the Best Laughs/Best use of humor award!

Thank you to everyone who attended to spread some Y good cheer!

Y partnership with 90by30 strengthens families
Your Y is helping 90by30, organizations that aim to reduce child abuse 90 percent by 2030, to strengthen families through Parent Cafés.

A Parent Café is a structured small-group conversation to increase social connections between parents but also to create a safe space for parents to learn and reflect on their knowledge of and approach to parenting.

"It takes a village to support a parent to raise a child," says Jeff Todahl, Co-Director of the Center for the Prevention of Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oregon. "We are acknowledging that parenting is stressful and challenging and any one of us could benefit from support."

Interested in learning more? Contact Caroline Madigan at 541.346.7484 or email  [email protected] .

"As a longtime Y member and 90by30 volunteer, seeing this partnership develop is very exciting," said Caroline, 90by30 Eugene Regional Leadership Team co-chair.

Stay tuned for more information about being a part of Parent Cafés!

Y members stepping up to meet $500,000 Challenge grant
Thank you to all of our Y members who have already contributed to meet Betty Soreng's $500,000 challenge grant through her Oregon Community Foundation fund to create a new Y.
Your donation  means that you helped to ensure that a new flagship YMCA is built quickly to serve thousands more with afterschool enrichment, disease-prevention programs, wellness classes and so much more. Learn more about the project HERE .  

Betty's generous gift comes on the heels of a $15 million award from the state and marks a pivotal moment in the history of our Y.

The challenge grant will match dollar-for-dollar every contribution, which can be in the form of cash, check, credit card or stock transfer. Have a minimum distribution requirement this year? Consider your Y.

If you haven't had a chance to contribute yet, now is the time! As a valued member of our Y family, we invite you to join Y staff, volunteers, members and program participants in this special challenge match campaign. Betty's grant doubles the impact of your gift!

To join us in this challenge, you can make a gift online HERE or make your contribution via mail by check. Please contact our Chief Development Officer, Danielle Uhlhorn, with any questions and for details on making a stock transfer contribution at  [email protected].

Thank you for being part of our Y family and for sharing in our collective enthusiasm and passion to see the reality of a NEW, 21st century YMCA!

Your Y in the News
Medical Matter
Your Y's Board Member Paula Ciesielski penned a story in the most recent issue of Medical Matters to highlight the YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program. Medical Matters is Lane County Medical Society's magazine. Thank you, Paula, for pointing out how people can reverse their risk of this chronic disease. See the article HERE.

Register-Guard
Thank you, The Register-Guard , for highlighting the crisis in infant and toddler childcare: lack of affordable, convenient, quality options puts a strain on families in our communities. Your Y understands this firsthand. Our preschool programs have tremendous wait lists and we literally don't have the space to accommodate more children. Parents express gratitude and say they feel lucky for our teachers' decades of experience--creating quality programs that support parents, even after their children have graduated.  Read the article HERE .

Letter to the Editor
"I believe strongly in relationships and how much those key relationships can support youth and adults in our community," wrote Holly, your Y's Youth Development Director, in a letter to The Register-Guard about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The last in the newspaper's 4-part series on ACEs ran Friday, Oct. 4. Read Holly's response HERE. 

Open for Business
The Y's work is around the world! In Sierra Leone, the Y helps to prevent the spread of Ebola. In Nicaragua, it provides poor families with land to grow food. Here in Eugene, your Y can respond to changing community needs--by adding new YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program classes, beginning weightlifting sessions, arthritis-relief aquatic and land programming, and expanded  afterschool enrichment. Read more HERE about the global Y movement and how each Y focuses on local needs in the Eugene Chamber of Commerce's magazine, Open for Business. 

Y Winter Basketball
The Eugene Family YMCA's Winter Basketball registration kick-off event is the best time to sign up for the popular winter sport, which grows character, sportsmanship and skill.

Players who register at the event get a jump-start on practice with a brand-new, free Y basketball.

Registration Kick-Off Event:

Date: Saturday, Oct. 19
Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Who: Players in grades 1 to 5 for basketball teams; players in kindergarten and first-grade for basketball clinics; and 3- to 5-year-olds for Itty-Bitty basketball clinics.
Where: Hamlin Middle School, 326 Centennial Blvd, Springfield
Information: 541.686.9622

Players in the Y's Youth Sports programs make friends, develop coordination, enhance a love of the game and develop character-based on the Y's four core values: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.

Lunchtime Lecture
Learn to understand balance and how to prevent falls
Learning about balance awareness can help us understand why we fall and how to prevent it. At this lunchtime lecture, Instructor Megan Daly will teach participants about the balance system, how it works to keep us upright and what you can do to prevent falls. 
 
Who: Open to all ages
Date: Wednesday, October 30
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Place: Eugene Family YMCA Beck Center
Cost: Free
Register: At the Welcome Center or 541.686.9622
Note: Open to the public

Specialty Classes
Kick start your metabolism and strengthen your bones
Adding a weightlifting routine can improve your bone density, help you build muscle and lose fat, increase your metabolism and boost your mood. Your Y can help! Join a special weightlifting series that will debunk myths, offer you small group support and take you step by step through proper lifting form. These classes are geared toward individuals who want to add free-weight lifting to a workout routine but aren't sure where to start. Classes happen before the Y opens so you can learn the lifts without a crowd and at your pace. You'll learn to do a bench press, deadlift, pull-up, squats and more from the Y's Health and Wellness Director Kim Miller and nationally-certified Group Exercise Instructor Stephanie Beck. Participants will graduate from the series with a schedule of lifts and appropriate weight for each movement.

What:  Beginning Weight Lifting Class
Date: Sundays, Oct 27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10 and Nov. 17
Time: 8 to 9 a.m. (before the Y opens)
Place: Health and Wellness Center
Cost: $50 per person for the series
Register: At the Welcome Center or 541.686.9622, limit of 6 participants
Space is limited to 6 lifters, so please sign up early.

Mindfulness for Stress Relief
Mindfulness practice can help reduce stress by teaching individuals how to stay present, grounded and relaxed. Instructor Matt Kane will teach participants how to use mindfulness as a way of working positively with stress.

Date: Sunday, Oct. 20
Time: 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Place: Eugene Family YMCA Meading Room
Cost: $12 for members/$15 for community members
Register: At the Y Welcome Center or 541.686.9622

Buti Yoga with Abigail Barella
"Buti" is a Marathi Indian term for "the cure to something that's been hidden away or kept secret." Unlock your secret cure in Buti Yoga, a powerful blend of tribal dance, primal movements, cardio and vinyasa-style yoga all to the strong beat of music. After a brief introduction to Buti, you'll be sweating, laughing and shaking your body to release happy endorphins to start your week right! Bring a yoga mat, water bottle and wear clothing you can move in.
Date: Sunday, October 13
Time: 1:00 - 2:30pm
Cost: $15/Members , $18/Community Members
Where: Movement Center
Register: At the Welcome Center or 542.686.9622

Try these continuing classes in your Y's Group Fitness Fall schedule

Take care of your joints while building strength and increasing flexibility
Your Y's low-impact aquatic classes train your muscles while preserving your joints. You'll be increasing your heart rate and experiencing the healing powers of movement in warm water. 

Keep Moving Aquatic Class
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Place: Shallow small Y pool
No need to register.

Arthritis Fitness Aquatic Class
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Place: Shallow small Y pool
No need to register.

Help your child develop a love of the water
Your Y's parent-child swim lessons introduce your child to blowing bubbles, kicking and floating--the foundations of water safety. Set your child up for success while also having fun playing, singing songs and getting comfortable in the water.

Parent-child swim lessons
Who: Parents and their children ages 6 to 36 months
Date: New sessions start Oct. 28 - Nov. 21
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m.; or Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.
Place: Shallow small Y pool
Register: At the Welcome Center--registration opens on Oct. 21 
For more information, click HERE 

Y Kudos
Congratulations Connie Clark (a Y member for 30 years!) for being selected as the 2019 U.S. Tennis Association Pacific Northwest Female Captain of the Year! 

Your Y is so impressed with your accomplishment and well-deserved recognition. Your teammates agree: "Connie is an ambassador for tennis. For years, she has been tireless in recruiting players for teams and then is always willing to captain." 

It's no wonder you are a two-time award winner! Your Y family loves you, Connie!
Stay Connected with the Eugene Family YMCA