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We know that lasting personal and social change comes about when we all work together. That’s why, at the Y, strengthening community is our cause. Every day, we work side-by-side with our neighbors to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.

Our New Online Presence

Thank you for visiting WestBroadStreetYMCA.org, the online home for one of the last remaining heritage YMCAs in the United States. We will be updating our content over the coming days, weeks, and months, so please continue to check back as often as you like.

Mission Moment: Cross Pollination

Recently my wife and I were driving outside of Waynesboro when we saw a sign that said "Day Lilies". Being one of our favorite plants we stopped, drove down a steep driveway, followed the signs to park in the grass, and then walked down to an amazing site.

Their, terraced in beds that rolled gently down to a pond, were thousands of day lilies. The colors were profuse from deep red to pink to salmon to purple to butter yellow to chartreuse. The petals were tight and full, some were like velvet, others were like spider legs while others doubled over on themselves like roses.

Making Your Own Decision

Mission Moment: Two small boys sitting outside my office waiting to see me for acting out. One turns to the other, "Let's just play and then when I get sick of you I'll just go away. You do the same thing. We can play, but we can't fight. That's what Mr. Peter will tell us. So let's just do it."

Butterfly Muscles

A few weeks ago my wife and I visited the butterfly exhibit at Callaway Gardens. Truly beautiful.

Just before you enter the huge atrium full of over 3000 butterflies, you pass through an area where you can see the butterflies in various stages of metamorphosis. Some were just coming out of their cocoons and were flushing blood into their wings before taking flight.

Mission Moment: Learning V Knowing

The kids took a field trip today to the RMG Civil Rights Museum.

I asked a group of them what they had learned. A few timid replies mixed with a very loud "Nothin'!"

"Nothing?"

"Yah, nothing. It's the same stuff we get in social studies. Blah, blah, blah."

Saddened at this, but understanding why it may not be connecting, I asked him if he liked going to Popeye's to eat. "Yah." "What if I told you that you couldn't go in." "I'd go anyway. You can't stop me." "But what if I had you arrested?" "I'd do my time."

Mission Moment: Missions

There is a lot of talk these days about "mission". Every company has a mission statement. People get paid a lot of money to help companies write a mission statement. They get printed on big signs, letterhead, name tags, and paychecks. They are posted at the front desk, in the lunch room and hung on every corridor. They are everywhere.

But what does that accomplish?

Mission Moment: Our Kids Aren't Crabs

A casual visitor remarked about the kids we work with. "Like crabs in a pot" he said. Asking for clarification, he said, "When you put live crabs in a pot and one tries to crawl out the others will pull it back."

"What does that have to do with our kids?"

"You spend all this time trying to get them to change and they won't. They'll just pull each other back down. Really, I think you are just waisting your time. They'll never change."

I wasn't sure whether to be angry at him or to feel sorry for him.

Mission Moment: Self Respect

Checking in the 10 and up boys today. Asking them about camp, this summer, what they've liked and what they've learned. Most kids shouted out "pool", "basketball", "library", "computer" and the like. And one young man looked at me and said "self respect."

"What does that mean?"

"When you feel good enough about yourself to treat someone else nice too."

That about sums it up. Progress!

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