Community Corner

Sewickley Valley YMCA Partners with Ambridge Non-Profit to Provide Hope

The YMCA saw this as a way to offer an enriching and fun opportunity for growth.

The Sewickley Valley YMCA is joining efforts with the Center for Hope to offer opportunities for children in Ambridge to attend summer camp.

The two camp sessions will run two weeks each, Monday through Thursday in June and July for children ages 8 to 17. 

The time will be divided between the Y where the kids will play games, sing songs, make crafts and swim and at the Center for Hope where Y staff will lead them in an afternoon of games and activities.

Kelsey Rhea, communications coordinator, said the impetus for the Y’s decision to pursue funding a summer day camp for children in Ambridge was a situation they learned about last year.

In 2012, she said the Center for Hope experienced an influx of children who flocked to the center to spend their days because they could escape the heat and  had no where else safe to go.

She said the YMCA saw this situation as an opportunity to help nurture the potential of these kids by offering them an enriching and fun opportunity for growth.  

The Center for Hope will provide lunch each day, and the Y will provide transportation. 

Sylvia Dallas, board member of Center for Hope, and her husband, John Oliver, said they were happy to be able to make the Y available to youth who would benefit from the summer day camp program.

The YMCA is able to offer this year’s program thanks to their support, as well as Laughlin Memorial, Inc. which focuses its philanthropy on organizations that benefit the residents of Ambridge and the surrounding areas.

“Over the years, we have provided grants to both the Center for Hope and the Sewickley YMCA.  This year, we were very pleased to discover that there was an opportunity to support both organizations by funding a busing program to transport youth from the Center for Hope to the Sewickley YMCA’s summer day camp program,” Todd Sacco, board member of Laughlin Memorial, Inc., said in a news release.  

The two day camp sessions will run June 17-June 27 and July 8-July 19 at a cost of $10. Pre-registration is required by June 12 for Session 1 and July 3 for Session 2. For more information, contact Dennis Pauley, youth and teen coordinator at 412-741-9622 ext. 115. 

The Y is also having a drive to gather goods for the community center as a part of their "Good Deed of the Month" program that helps other local, non-profits.

To participate, simply bring the following items and drop them off in the Y’s lobby at 625 Blackburn Road, Sewickley.

Bring jelly during the month of June, back to school supplies in July and utensils, plates and other paper products in August.

Join Patch for more community news or join us on Facebook and Twitter.
 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Sewickley