GREENFIELD — Though their experiences were unique, a common thread ran through the stories shared by each person who spoke in support of Franklin County’s YMCA on Wednesday.
“The first words you associate with the Y are community and family,” said Beth Fogle, a single mother to 9-year-old Ryker Bray. “The Y is more than just programming to us. It’s the product it offers that sets them apart, and also what it does for the child, the parent and the community that’s more astonishing. They offer a sense of belonging and a sense of family.”
CEO Grady Vigneau welcomed attendees to the YMCA Campaign Kick-Off event at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center Wednesday evening, remarking on the number of faces he was grateful to see again after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vigneau said each year, the money raised through the fundraising campaign helps to limit financial barriers to those seeking access to the Y’s programming.
Last year, the nonprofit raised a “record breaking” $184,000, he said.
“Our campaign drives our ability to make an impact in our community,” Vigneau said. “By limiting those financial barriers, we’re able to personally engage more children, more teens, more families and more adults of all ages than ever before.”
Fogle was joined by April Page, who spoke to the benefit the YMCA offered her five children, and Katie Alexander, a longtime Y member who, after graduating college, accepted a job as an exercise trainer.
“One moment that stands out to me most was last school year,” Fogle said. “From August 2020 to March 2021, they graciously took in the school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped with online learning so that parents, like myself, could work. Without this program in place, honestly, I would have lost my job.”
Page, too, spoke to the benefit the programs at the YMCA have offered her children.
“We have experienced everything from preschool … to after-school programming now,” she said. “Having my children in Y programs has been such a huge benefit for them. They would not be where they are, and I would not be where I am, without the help of the Y.”
For Alexander, who first came into contact with the YMCA when she moved to Greenfield at the age of 7 and her parents thought it would be a good way for her to make friends, said she hopes to bring the support she found back then full circle.
“I’m currently working toward getting certified as a personal trainer,” Alexander said, “so I can help people achieve their goals and better support the community that helped me when I most needed helped.”
To donate to the YMCA’s campaign, visit your-y.org/annual-campaign.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne