Annual Report 2012 - YMCA Calgary
Annual Report 2012 - YMCA Calgary
Annual Report 2012 - YMCA Calgary
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Where Our<br />
Family Belongs<br />
by Holly Speed<br />
My <strong>YMCA</strong> journey started three years ago when<br />
I was learning to adapt to being a new single mom<br />
to my daughters, Taylor and Brooklyn, and coping<br />
with the recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS),<br />
all at the age of 26.<br />
I stumbled across a “ free art “ program at the <strong>YMCA</strong><br />
close to our home and immediately registered my<br />
girls—I wanted to get their minds off the change<br />
of life we were experiencing. The Art-Reach program<br />
allows them to be creative and gives them a way<br />
to express their feelings through art. Most of all,<br />
they are able to make new friends.<br />
<strong>YMCA</strong> staff have watched Taylor and Brooklyn<br />
develop into fine young ladies, and helped them<br />
overcome struggle and disappointment.<br />
As a single mom on a sole income, I was worried<br />
about what kind of summer I was going to be<br />
able to provide for them last year. When bills keep<br />
coming, sometimes there isn’t much left at the end<br />
of a regular month, let alone summer holidays. I was<br />
overwhelmed with joy when my girls were offered<br />
the opportunity to attend Camp Chief Hector <strong>YMCA</strong><br />
through <strong>YMCA</strong> Strong Kids funding.<br />
that confidence. She is the first to approach a group<br />
of kids and make friends, the first to offer a helping<br />
hand and she holds her head up higher now.<br />
Brooklyn has had a lot of responsibilities since<br />
we became a single-income family with her<br />
sister being special needs, and me having MS.<br />
Camp Chief Hector <strong>YMCA</strong> was a place where<br />
she could go and just be a nine-year-old regular<br />
kid. Brooklyn gained more confidence and more<br />
compassion, and she was able to be a kid with<br />
no responsibilities for a week.<br />
The <strong>YMCA</strong> experience has changed our family<br />
forever in so many ways. We have re-evaluated<br />
what family means. We understand each other<br />
better and have more patience with each other.<br />
The <strong>YMCA</strong> has brought me and my kids closer<br />
and has made us stronger. The <strong>YMCA</strong> staff have<br />
become my friends and the <strong>YMCA</strong> is our family too.<br />
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I watched my special needs daughter Taylor, grow<br />
from her camp experience. She has become more<br />
independent and more confident about herself.<br />
This was a place for her to fit in and be a kid,<br />
without people picking on her. Taylor has since kept<br />
<strong>YMCA</strong> <strong>Calgary</strong><br />
5 <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
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