YMCA News Archive

YMCA Hosts All-Metro Track and Field Meet for Youth on July 29

jeffrey.needham — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 15:25:18 +0000

YMCA Hosts All-Metro Track and Field Meet for Youth on July 29 jeffrey.needham Wed, 07/26/2017 - 10:25

YMCA Hosts All-Metro Track and Field Meet for Youth on July 29

Roseville, MN – The YMCA of the North, a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, will host a metro-wide track and field meet for youth from ages 3 to 14 on Saturday, July 29.

More than 400 participants will compete in events with others from their age group, including running events of various distances ranging from 50 to 1500 meters, long jump, and shot put and hurdles for kids entering second grade or higher. The event is the culmination of an 8-week long track and field program participants engaged in at their local Ys.

“YMCA sports are built on the idea that everyone has an opportunity to play,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YMCA of the North. “YMCA athletes come from all backgrounds to unite as a team, develop lifelong friendships and engage in healthy, positive competition.”

WHO:
YMCA of the North

WHAT:
All-Metro Track and Field Meet

WHERE:
Roseville High School at 1240 West County Road B2 in Roseville, MN 55134

WHEN:
Saturday, July 29, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

About the YMCA of the North

The YMCA of the North is a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Established 161 years ago, the Ys provide life-strengthening services across 12 counties of the greater Twin Cities metro region and western Wisconsin communities. The 28 Y locations and program sites, seven overnight camps, 10 day camps, and more than 90 child care sites engage more than 350,000 men, women and children of all ages, incomes and backgrounds. To learn more about the Y’s mission and work, visit www.ymcamn.org.

YMCA Camps Empower Youth to Enjoy Outdoor Education and Experiences Year-round

jeffrey.needham — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 15:39:49 +0000

YMCA Camps Empower Youth to Enjoy Outdoor Education and Experiences Year-round jeffrey.needham Tue, 07/25/2017 - 10:39

YMCA Camps Empower Youth to Enjoy Outdoor Education and Experiences Year-round

The YMCA of the North (YGTC), a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, provides meaningful outdoor experiences and nature education all year long at its day and overnight camps.

Many young people in the Twin Cities area do not have the opportunity to experience nature near their homes. At YMCA camps, kids and teens of all backgrounds have opportunities to engage with the outdoors and learn new skills like canoeing, climbing, sailing and cooking. By pushing outside their comfort zones in a safe, supportive environment, campers also build confidence and grow as leaders along the way.

“YMCA camps give kids space to learn, grow and explore,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YGTC. “We use the outdoors as a classroom to teach leadership; we work to ensure youth from all backgrounds have opportunities to participate.”

Among these campers are participants in the Boys and Girls Outdoor Leadership Development program (BOLD/GOLD). The BOLD/GOLD program brings students from all backgrounds together to learn about nature and experience new outdoor challenges as a team. BOLD/GOLD campers spend three summers at Y camps, taking on progressively longer trips on trail and developing as leaders. For many, it is their first time away from the city and learning outdoor skills.

Campers participating in all programs experience nature and learn about the animals, bugs and plants they will find in the woods or water. Many Y camps offer additional outdoor education opportunities year-round for schools and other groups from September through May. This hands-on learning experience allows kids to engage with and become stewards of our environment.

Discover how the YMCA provides outdoor education all year long at camp – Environmental Education at YMCA Camp.

Learn how camp provides unique leadership development opportunities – YMCA Boys and Girls Outdoor Leadership Development.

See how camp has made a difference in one youth’s life – YMCA Outdoor Leadership Development: Destiny’s Story.

For more than 100 years, YGTC camps have offered an enriching experience with caring counselors who allow campers to safely explore the outdoors. The Y offers 10 day camps throughout the metro, four overnight camps in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and two teen wilderness camps and two family camps in northern Minnesota. To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate, need-based financial assistance is available. Learn more about the Y’s camp programs.

Mounds View's Mark Braun: From abandoned baby to athlete, advocate

jeffrey.needham — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Mounds View's Mark Braun: From abandoned baby to athlete, advocate jeffrey.needham Sat, 07/15/2017 - 00:00

Born in Jamaica with spina bifida, Mark Braun was abandoned in a trash bin as an infant. After a police officer heard his cries, he was placed in a crowded orphanage in the mountains where many children never reached adulthood.

He dodged death again with the help of a handful of Minnesota charities, which sent food to his orphanage, brought used wheelchairs up the mountain for the kids, and placed young Mark on the lap of a kindly church volunteer from Mounds View who fought to adopt him.

Today Braun, 23, is one of the fastest wheelchair sprinters in the United States and has his sights set on the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.

He clocked a 100-meter sprint in 14.88 seconds and competed two years ago in the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships in Qatar.

"His story is pretty amazing," said Braun's coach, Brett Followay, who works with Adaptive Sports Program of Ohio. "He is very, very gifted. He is a natural athlete. ... He's fun. He's an all-around good guy."

Braun, who is also a four-time national wheelchair basketball champion with the Junior Rolling Timberwolves, uses a custom-fit race chair with three wheels. His arms and abs do all the work.

But competing isn't all he does. Strongly influenced by his activist mother, Claire, Braun has already jumped into philanthropy and advocacy.

He travels around the world not only to compete but also to advocate for people with disabilities. He used a meeting with the prime minister of Jamaica to convince the government to release seven disabled children for international adoption.

"I want to be the voice for these kids," Braun said. "I want to help them be successful in life."

When he's home in Minnesota, Braun visits hospitals to introduce kids and parents to adaptive sports. He coaches other athletes with disabilities, and he works part-time at the Emma B. Howe YMCA in Coon Rapids.

Braun is featured in the Science Museum of Minnesota's new Sportsology interactive sprint exhibit. He filmed a video at the State Fair on the challenges of getting around on wheels; access remains a near-daily struggle, he said, even though the Americans with Disabilities Act is 27 years old.

"His personality is magnetic. He is someone who when he talks to you, he makes you feel very special," said Margie Rask, executive director at the Y. "He has the innate ability to work with kids. He sees them for who they are. He doesn't talk down to them."

Braun said he's proof that a little help can go a long way. "I am all for inclusiveness and getting kids engaged," he said.

He cut in line

Sitting in her Mounds View home office recently, surrounded by photos of her 11 children, Claire Braun recounted her first meeting with her son Mark. A nurse and teacher by trade, she has adopted eight children with complex medical conditions and fostered another 75 over four decades.

The orphanage where she met Mark around 1987 was "bumper-to-bumper beds. There were three or four kids sideways on each bed," she said. Each child received two spoonfuls of food packaged and sent there by Coon Rapids-based Feed My Starving Children. Until age 5, Mark crawled around the orphanage with his arms, pulling his legs behind him.

"I knew when I saw him [that] if he didn't get off the island, he'd be a statistic," she said.

He was so excited when Minnesota volunteers brought wheelchairs that he cut in line. Claire Braun said she scooped up the eager little boy and held him on her lap until it was his turn to be fitted for a chair. He began to sing as they waited, and she made the decision right there to adopt him.

It wasn't easy. Jamaica, fearful of exploitation and human trafficking, is wary of international adoptions. Claire Braun was able to bring Mark to Minnesota on a medical visa. At the airport, he reluctantly left his wheelchair in exchange for a teddy bear and promises that he'd get a new one in America.

After a year of tests, Shriners Hospitals for Children in the Twin Cities treated him. He's undergone more than a dozen surgeries.

Mark started school. He climbed the tree in the backyard. Against all odds, he taught himself to stand up and walk a bit around the house even though he had no muscles below the knees.

He used his wheelchair to zip around the house, amazing his mother with each new accomplishment. "His arms were so strong. Once he got his first set of wheels, he could go fast and speed was his thing," she said.

Claire Braun introduced her son to adaptive sports at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, headquartered in Golden Valley, and he took off — basketball, softball, track, even Nordic skiing.

"It's been really fun to see Mark grow as an athlete and to see him take on more of a mentorship role," said Megan Welty, a supervisor at Courage Kenny. "He has worked very hard to get where he is today."

Meeting the prime minister

At Irondale High School in New Brighton, Mark helped make Minnesota sports history in 2011 when he joined the track and field team and competed in the first-ever wheelchair division.

Granted a trip through Make-A-Wish, he used the opportunity to give back.

"I went back to Jamaica and threw parties at two orphanages and gave toys to all the kids," he said. That's when he met with the prime minister to make a case for more international adoptions.

Braun graduated from Irondale in 2012 and interned at Medtronic before joining the Y two years ago as a youth development team member. The job is flexible, allowing him to train six days a week and travel. At the Y, he spends time in the gym working with kids of all abilities.

He said he likes to challenge kids to try shooting baskets from a sitting position before having them stand to understand their potential. He asked his bosses at the Y to add more adaptive sports and improve access to facilities and equipment, Rask said.

"He pushed me from day one," she said, adding that his feedback had helped her spot programs that could be started or improved.

One of Braun's newest projects is helping his mother coach the Rolling Thunder track team for kids and teens with disabilities.

Followay said people with disabilities need the same support and structure to succeed that able-bodied athletes rely on.

"No one is going to make it on their own. You have to have a team behind you," he said.

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3 Things To Do If Someone Goes Missing In Open Water

jeffrey.needham — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 05:00:00 +0000

3 Things To Do If Someone Goes Missing In Open Water jeffrey.needham Wed, 07/12/2017 - 00:00

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — This is the time of year when we usually report on drownings. But it’s a successful water rescue that has people around the world talking.

Eighty strangers formed a human chain to rescue to little boys and their family caught in a Panama City rip current.

After a one-hour team effort, strangers got far enough into the water to save nine family members. Everyone is safe.

On Sunday at Carver Lake in Woodbury, patrons formed a human chain and tried to save a 5-year-old boy. Sadly, it was too late.

Maybe you’ve seen a human chain, or been part of one. There is a technique to it, and it’s certainly worth learning.

YMCA Greater Twin Cities Aquatic Director Shannon Kinstler says that forming a human chain is one of three things you should do if a person goes missing in open water.

No. 1: Scream for help.

“Make a scene, yell, get everybody’s attention say ‘I need help’ and really make sure everyone understands the urgency of my child is missing,” Kinstler said.

No. 2: Make sure someone calls 911 so they can be en route.

No. 3: Form a human chain. White Bear Lake lifeguard Garrett gave WCCO a demo.

“We’re gonna link our arms, we’re gonna look in the water, we’re gonna walk in a straight line,” Garrett said.

They say older kids and as many adults as possible should stay tight in the chain so more ground is covered using sweeping circular motions to cover the ground, feeling for anything unusual. And you keep looking until water is armpit deep.

Kinstler says the chain makes it safer for everyone.

“The chain gives you the long distance to be able to cover that space, also the security of having somebody right next to you,” Kintsler said.

Another key factor to water safety is becoming a strong swimmer. Lessons can be expensive, but the Y is offering a chance for free swimming lessons.

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Minnesota Nice: YMCA grants Thrive award to U of M grad, longtime volunteer

jeffrey.needham — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Minnesota Nice: YMCA grants Thrive award to U of M grad, longtime volunteer jeffrey.needham Mon, 07/10/2017 - 00:00

As a young adult, Kirsten Alfaro could easily just focus on her future, but she is just as concerned about shaping others'.

While in school at the University of Minnesota, Alfaro worked as a mentor at the YMCA on campus. Now, the Y is recognizing her and 37 other who give back throughout the metro with what they call the “thrive” award.

Alfaro worked with Literacy Matters, a program focused on giving kids a foundation of reading, writing, speaking and interacting.

"We say it so often: it's a space where you feel at home. This is my home away from home," Alfaro said.

That’s been the case for Kirsten since she was 12 years old, when her dad became a single father and turned to a YMCA camp for help with child care.

"That first summer together, my dad had no idea what to do with child care,” Alfaro said. “He was a single father, he was working two jobs. What's he going to do? We don't have school."

Alfaro knows the value of mentors, so she wanted to do the same for others. Soon, she will apply to medical school.

“Really having a mentor who looks like them, speaks the same language… [who] tells them they can be a college student, too…mentors are really life-changing." she said.

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