From time to time, we receive heartwarming messages from members. We wanted to share one of our favorites with you this month.
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Just wanted to relay a touching experience from our recent visit to the YMCA that was a great encouragement to me as a special needs dad. Recently, the staff at the YMCA awarded my family with a scholarship so that we could enjoy the benefits of a YMCA membership with our young adult son with autism. Our son, Ashton, loves swimming, which is honestly a bit of an overstatement. Water serves as a means of therapy to him, providing the kind of perfect sensory input that can put him at ease for the remainder of his evening. We are enjoying the warm water pool and the hot tub the most.
At our most recent visit to the YMCA and while Ashton and I were enjoying the hot tub, a lady kindly asked if she could ask me a question. When I made eye contact with her, she began to become emotional and started to share about how she had two brothers with special needs who had both passed away. She expressed how touched she was at seeing how animated Ashton was in expressing his enjoyment of the water features at the YMCA and this flooded her with the emotion of missing her family. We spent the next fifteen minutes enjoying a beautiful conversation about her brothers, about Ashton and in discussion surrounding the difference between how life treated those with special needs decades back as opposed to the more inclusive environment of today. As a special needs dad, it was such a blessing to experience another moment when inclusion serves to highlight how meaningful every life is in the eyes of the Creator.
Thanks again for the opportunity to enjoy the amenities of the YMCA with my son and for fostering an environment of inclusion that the Y has created for families like mine.
Dan Turney
Pastor | Christian Community Church
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Dan and his family are members of our Y and receive a scholarship, which helps remove barriers for them to participate at the Y without the added stress of financial constraints. Through the generosity of hundreds of donors, we are able to provide thousands of members with discounted (and even free) membership and programs.
You can play a part in stories like Dan's! Any donation, no matter the amount, directly impacts the people you pass in the halls of the YMCA every time you visit. We hope you'll consider giving, and thank you in advance for being part of our YMCA family where our primary focus is to love and care for others, just as God does for us.
