Hello!

As you may know, the YMCA's Annual Campaign is all about reaching out to our community through our programs. I have been impressed over the past few years to see all of the amazing work done at the Casino Road Community Center, what with the English Learning classes and adult GED courses and all.

I also had a very special opportunity to make a difference this last year, and it has in every way changed the perspective that I have for the Annual Campaign:

This last June, an apartment complex just a few miles from my branch opened their pool for the season. Within just two or three hours, a nine year old boy was found at the bottom of the deep end.

The adult that found him ran to get help, not being able to swim herself, and by the time that someone was able to get the boy out it was too late.

In August, I had the opportunity to go to this very pool with three of my staff to offer free swimming lessons to the residents of the complex. For several of these children, these were their very first swim lessons that they had received.

We also began offering adult swimming lessons in Spanish, as we found a huge community of parents on Casino Road that wanted to learn to swim, but were too afraid of the water to even let their kids enjoy swimming themselves. Over the last several months, I have watched them progress from being paralyzed by a lifelong fear, to now being able to swim lengths of the pool. Just below you can hear the story behind one of those adults, Ricarda (and see me being a movie star!) as she says that she feels like she is now "able to fly". I found that many of these ladies feel that same empowering motivation to improve their lives, and to reach out to those in their community.

Surely this is what my job is about; changing lives. The trouble is, I can't do it without help. I depend entirely on the support of the Annual Campaign to fund these programs. I believe in this work, and I am a proud contributor; would you support this cause?

Carl Funnell - Aquatics Director