Each summer, children, and counselors from seven Y camps across Delaware come together at the Hanby Outdoor Center and celebrate. This year’s focus was about getting to know someone new. Campers exchanged kindness bracelets with kids from other groups and were encouraged to learn more about their new friends. We were honored to have Representative…
It’s all about girl power! Thanks to a state-funded grant called GIFT, that’s Girls in Fitness Together, the Dover YMCA is teaching girls from Dover, Caesar Rodney, and Polytech High Schools how to make better choices in all aspects of their lives while incorporating physical fitness. Girls enrolled in GIFT meet twice a week for…
Funding from the Chichester Foundation now makes it possible for each branch to train at least two staff as Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainers through the American College of Sports Medicine.
The YMCA of Delaware is now offering free one-year memberships to students in the seventh grade who live or attend a school in the state of Delaware. To register, students need to bring a school ID, class roster, or recent report card along with a parent or guardian to a local YMCA branch. After registering,…
If swim instructor Jeanie Donofrio had her way, everyone would be in the pool. “Swim for life” is her mantra, and you won’t find a more enthusiastic champion of the water programs at the Sussex Family YMCA. When Jeanie was a young, single mother, she was looking for a place to exercise that offered childcare…
We are excited to announce a new partnership with Autism Delaware, offering a water safety program to children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through this collaboration, Autism Delaware provides training to YMCA swim instructors and in exchange, the YMCA will provide S.W.A.M. (Swimming With Autism) sessions to the community. Currently, the program is…
In early August, the YMCA of Delaware’s first cohort of Global Teens headed to London to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Y. Sixteen young people from Delaware YMCAs attended the YMCA 175 conference held in the city where the world-wide movement was founded. The Delaware contingent joined 600 young adults from across the United…
The YMCA of Delaware is pleased to welcome Thomas Wallace Sr. as the new Executive Director of the Western Family YMCA branch. Wallace joins the YMCA of Delaware’s team with more than 14 years of experience, serving in leadership roles at YMCA branches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wallace rose through the YMCA ranks, holding many positions…
You don’t have to lose your fitness just because you go on vacation or have a more relaxed agenda over the summer. In fact, summertime may be the ticket to get you out of a fitness rut and trying something new. Explore exercise tourism. Before you hit your summer destination, do a little research. Find…
As we prepare to celebrate dads this Sunday, let’s take a look back to how it all got started. Did you know Father’s Day began at the YMCA? It was founded in Spokane, WA, at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, whose father, William Jackson Smart, had raised six children on his own. After hearing…
The YMCA is an association of people of all ages, ethnic groups and religious affiliations that strives to cultivate the human potential, self-esteem, and dignity of all people. Our organization exists to develop and practice the Christian principles of love, caring, inclusiveness, justice and peace…and to enrich the emotional, physical and social life of all individuals, families and our community.
