During this season of gratitude, your Y wants to make sure that you know how very appreciative we are of YOU, our members, donors, staff and supporters.
Your Y is mindful of the fact that YOU, our Y Family, have done so much to lift our spirits, spread some kindness and inspire us to find new ways to be there for you.
November 16 marks the start of an entire Week of Gratitude.
In front of the Y facility, a Garden of Gratitude will showcase flowers and messages of gratitude on garden stakes. We invite you to plant a stake with your word of gratitude. Pick up a garden stake in the Welcome Center lobby!
You are also welcome to take a gratitude break with Sarah Finney, Y yoga instructor who has a recorded gratitude meditation class under Recorded Classes on your Y's Virtual Hub. Meditation can increase patience and tolerance, help build stress-management skills and allow individuals to focus on what they are thankful for. Your Y's fitness instructors will infuse their live and virtual classes with messages of gratitude as well.
With the initiative and innovation of Naomi Saenger, a South Eugene High School sophomore, your Y will unveil a Little Free Pantry, a handbuilt structure stocked with food for those without. Your Y knows that gratitude inspires us to give back to society as a whole--- and here is your perfect opportunity to help stock the pantry with nonperishables! (Read more about the Little Free Pantry below.)
Don't forget to pick up a newly designed Gratitude bookmark at the Y's Welcome Center--- it will remind you that despite the hardship of this year, we have much to be grateful for.
"No one who achieves success does so without the help of others.
The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude."
--- Alfred North Whitehead
Gratitude for Y Staff Members
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It's been a long year and Y staff have worked tirelessly to reinvent programs, services and protocols to best respond to COVID-19 and member needs.
We'd love for you to join us in showing appreciation for our staff by sharing notes of appreciation.
Feel free to share the love here.
Thank you for sharing your kind words and support. It means the world to us!
You're Invited: Virtual Bingo with Prizes!
Your Y's virtual Bingo Night promises to be a highlight of your holiday season! Grab a warm beverage, a cozy blanket, and join us for a night with your Y family. Prizes will be awarded after each of eight rounds of bingo.
All proceeds benefit our financial assistance program to ensure no one is turned away due to financial hardships and allows your Y to run important programs for our community.
Date: Thursday, December 17
Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Price: $10 for one bingo card, $25 for 3
Visit our event page for details and tickets: CLICK HERE
Welcome Center Equipped with Hearing Aid Enhancer
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Masks and distancing protocols have been especially difficult for individuals with hearing loss. Your Y's Welcome Center is now equipped with a hearing loop, a device that can be connected to a hearing aid and enhance the voice of our staff. The hearing loop provides a magnetic, wireless signal that is picked up by the hearing aid.
Thank you to Ginevra Ralph from The Shedd Institute for loaning us this device. Your Y is now part of a network of organizations across our town who are "looped in."
Please Welcome Katie Lively to Y's Board of Directors
Katie Lively, a Master of Nonprofit Management student at the University of Oregon, joins the Board of Directors for the Eugene Family YMCA.
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Katie is the Volunteer and Foster Care Coordinator at the Greenhill Humane Society. As a former competitive athlete, Katie believes deeply in the impact of fitness and team sports, and she is eager to contribute to the Y's work toward making such opportunities accessible to everyone.
Your Y's Board of Directors now has 15 dedicated community leaders who share their time, expertise, resources and talent to make sure that the Y is strengthened as the nation's leading nonprofit for youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.
"Our Board of Directors represents diverse life experiences and areas of expertise," says Chip Radebaugh, YMCA Board President. "I'm so thrilled to have Katie join our Board, improve our impact as a nonprofit and offer her perspective as a student, a staff member of a local nonprofit and a dedicated athlete."
Soon-to-be-installed Little Free Pantry Provides
Food To Those Without
Thanks to Naomi Saenger, a sophomore at South Eugene High School, your Y will be the latest and 20th location for a Little Free Pantry, a shelter for canned and non-perishable food for the community.
The Little Free Pantry grassroots movement started in 2016 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with Jessica McClard planting a wooden box full of food items, toiletries and other supplies. Since then, Little Free Pantries have popped up in neighborhoods worldwide! The idea is that anyone who can donate puts food and other items into the pantry box, and anyone who needs items can take them.
Naomi has been volunteering with Burrito Brigade and Waste to Taste, two influential groups working hard to keep the Eugene community fed!
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"I decided to make a pantry because I've seen food insecurity in Eugene throughout my time volunteering," Naomi says. "Accessible food is crucial and the YMCA is a central location that many people visit, so my vision for the pantry is that it will stay stocked and assist the food insecure."
Lane County has the second highest population of food insecure households out of all Oregon counties with 15.4 percent of residents not having access to adequate nutrition, according to a study by the Oregon Center for Public Policy, which conducted a 2016 study of food banks and pantries. It also revealed that Lane County had 55,370 food insecure individuals.
With food insecurity rising due to COVID-19, your Y is taking advantage of the opportunity to serve our community in this new way.
Your Y's Little Free Pantry is being painted by Y member Sophie Navarro this week and will be installed by Naomi this weekend. Find the Little Free Pantry between the preschool fence and the newspaper boxes by the front entrance to your Y.
Nourish Your Body and Heart with Virtual Cooking Classes
Chef Amanda Swan cooked up a delicious Pumpkin Curry soup last week, but if you missed it, don't worry! It's been recorded and is now part of your Y's Virtual Hub!
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Amanda's class is part of a series of Virtual Cooking Classes sponsored by your Y in an effort to ensure that we nourish our bodies with healthy food at the same time as we maintain our health with fitness classes.
This month, join Health Coach Meg Orion as she demonstrates how to make a delicious ginger turmeric latté. We encourage you to shop for the ingredients before class so you can make tea right along with Meg. After a short cooking demonstration, stick around for a wellness talk all about simple ways to increase your energy naturally. As the days get darker and the holiday season begins, it's vital to take good care of yourself, keeping your energy balanced and sustainable throughout the winter. Meg's talks are lively and fun, with plenty of time for sharing and Q & A afterwards!
SAVE THE DATE
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 18, at noon
In December, Meg will discuss immune health with a cooking demo for an easy green soup. Look for all the details about the class in next month's e-newsletter!
Note: You must be an active or virtual member to access the classes.
Youth Development Leaders Bring Halloween Fun to Y Kiddos
No, it wasn't a typical Halloween due to COVID-19 and your Y had to cancel its annual Halloween party, but that didn't stop Youth Development staff from taking our colorful buses to every care site to surprise Y kiddos and staff for Halloween.
Youth Development Director Holly Kriz-Anderson wore an inflatable cow costume and Multi-site Coordinator Maritza Ruiz dressed as an avocado!
Kids were delighted with the COVID-safe trick-or-treating: long skeleton arms that delivered treats through cardboard rolls!
Some Health Plans Include your Y Membership as a Benefit!
As you select your health plan at this time of the year, look for the bonus benefit of having your Y membership covered.
Your Y expanded the programs accepted for membership.
Programs we accept at this time include:
1. Silver & Fit
2. Renew Active through UnitedHealth Care
3. Peerfit
4. Active & Fit Experience
Don't Delay: Run, Swim, and Bike as You ESCAPE 2020!
Time is running out to finish 2020 strong! Sign up now and you'll have plenty of time to complete the ESCAPE 2020 on-your-own triathlon!
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It's the perfect way to focus your mind on a goal, build strength and fitness, and leave this year in the dust!
The ESCAPE 2020 Triathlon is a 2.5-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26-mile run. Substitutions of other fitness activities are welcome--- this is YOUR race! Aqua-jogging, cardio machine workouts and walking counts! Log your own mileage as you go on our digital form or by calling the Y Welcome Center.
What: ESCAPE 2020 Triathlon
When: Complete 2.5-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26-mile run before Jan. 15.
Where: At your Y, outdoors, in our virtual classes!
Cost: $40 (you do not have to be a Y member to participate)
Registration: Call 541.686.9622 or ONLINE.
Note: Upon completion of the ESCAPE 2020 Triathlon, you'll receive your choice of gear: a T-shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt or sweatshirt.
Welcome to your new virtual YMCA world that easily links you to all of our recorded fitness videos and the live Zoom classes you love!
Watch a step-by-step instructional video HERE about how to login, navigate and get the most out of your Virtual Hub at the Y experience.
As we continue building content into this virtual YMCA, expect to see brand-new virtual offerings that create social connections and further your health and wellness goals.
For example, Cari Lynn now teaches chair yoga at noon on Thursdays! Enjoy the benefits of improved mobility and balance, as well as the mindfulness of yoga, with the support and assistance of a chair.
Try it this week!
Mask Up at Your Y!
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, your Y has kept health and safety a top priority. This includes safe, consistent mask-wearing!
Don't forget that when you're in the Y, you must keep your mask on at all times when working out, unless you are in the swimming pool, hot tub or shower. We are much more effective at preventing the spread of the virus when we join together and mask up. There is hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations throughout the Y to keep your hands clean.
Do: Wear your mask! Staying healthy looks great on you!
Don't: Forget to cover both your mouth and nose!
Local Virtual Turkey Trot Races Offer Fitness Options
Y Tip: Sign up for your Y's ESCAPE 2020 Triathlon and count your Turkey day race toward the 26-mile goal!
Heard Around Town
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"Almost everyone has worked on a puzzle. ... Instinctively, we all understand that the piece we hold isn't worthless just because it doesn't seem to match the pieces we have already assembled. We just haven't figured out yet how all of the pieces connect. I find it helpful to remember that The United States of America didn't start out as some beautifully assembled puzzle. Rather, unity is something we are still working toward. The final picture of our puzzle has never been assembled nor realized. We are still working through some details, figuring out how people and pieces fit together and understanding how seemingly opposite sides can work together to link into one another. Just imagine how weak a puzzle would be if all the pieces had straight edges; the seemingly polar opposite sides of knobs and sockets is precisely what creates overall strength.
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So where do we go from here, following this month's national election, which will leave some feeling elation and others despair? How do we find unity when we feel so disconnected, distrustful and angry?
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For me, I believe that no time in our history has required the work of nonprofits more. Nonprofits represent one of the purest forms of unity, a clarifying representation of our national aspiration. Nonprofits help bring together those facing a need with those who have time, talents or financial ability to help address those needs. At their heart, they represent humanity's courageous ability to be both vulnerable and selfless.
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What today feels disconnected and disassociated is actually the piece of a puzzle that, once connected, will form a strong and beautiful picture. Just because the final united picture remains incomplete doesn't mean we can't get there together."
The Register-Guard showcased two gifts totaling $27,000 to go specifically toward the all-day YMCA program for South Lane School District students in Cottage Grove. The Ford Family Foundation donated $25,000 and the Pacific Power Foundation donated $2,000.
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"We went from operating a three-hour program to operating a 10-hour program," said Holly Kriz-Anderson, Vice President of Operations and Youth Development Director. "The main difference is probably six hours of that is supporting comprehensive distance learning."
Danielle Uhlhorn, YMCA Chief Development Officer, said "About a year and a half ago, the school district started conversations with us about coming to the area to provide services for those families. One of the challenges of moving into a new area is it takes time to develop those programs ... . Enrollment typically does not cover the cost."
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"I think the biggest pivots we've had to make is what can we take virtually, what do we need to keep in person," said Kimberly Miller, the director of Health and Wellness at the YMCA.
All classes have capacity limits, enforced distancing, and reservation requirements. Higher intensity classes take place outside, even as the weather gets colder.
"I've had people say that they are willing to come to Bootcamp and shovel snow for a warm-up," Kim says. "So, they are committed to staying outside and staying safe."
Your Y was highlighted in The Register-Guard's BlueChip Magazine for several gifts totaling $450,000 that are advancing the Capital Campaign for a new Y, which has also met a key architectural milestone: 50 percent completion of the construction documents.
Progress on the new Y in the midst of a global pandemic is possible because of strong support by early visionaries like Larry and Diane Tardie and Steve Stewart, coupled with new supporters like The Sunderland Foundation.
Holiday Hours
CLOSED
Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26
Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24
Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25
New Year's Day, Friday, Jan. 1
CLOSED EARLY
New Year's Eve, Thursday, Dec. 31
(Open 6 a.m. until 2 p.m.)
