Don’t let life be the pits!

Rainbow mud. That’s how I would describe my appearance on Sunday morning after a few friends and I, along with 7500 other people, completed The Color Run 5k downtown. Now, this wasn’t so much a race as it was a colorful street party. For those of you who haven’t heard of The Color Run, the gist of it is that you start the run wearing a clean white shirt, and along the course, you get gently pummeled with colored powder; at the end, you look like something out of Willy Wonka.

I can say with total certainty that I’ve never had so much fun in a race! Our team–for PEACH’s sake–had one objective: get as colorful as possible. To accomplish this, we rolled around in color that had fallen to the ground at each station. STOP. DROP. ROLL. COLOR. It just goes to show, getting exercise and being active doesn’t have to be a drag. While this certainly wasn’t an intense cardio work-out, jogging and laughing at the same time with friends make for very fun physical activity.

You don’t have to be an Ironman competitor to complete a race. There are lots of runs and walks still left this summer and fall that would be great for the whole family to do, or if you’ve never completed a race before, there’s no better time than now to push yourself and do one! You can look at a fairly comprehensive list of races in and around Louisville here. There are a number of races for charity, so you can support a good cause and get in some exercise at the same time. Maybe you can even get a team together and make silly shirts for the race (“Don’t let life be the pits” was our team motto for The Color Run). However you go about it, I would highly recommend doing a race. Whether you run, walk, or do some combo of both, you’re going to feel great after you cross that finish line.

Take a Y Tour Online!

Our YMCA tour videos are done and posted on our site and we are so excited to share them with you! Today we are featuring our Bullitt County Family YMCA.

Take a tour of our Bullitt County Family YMCA!

Here’s to life, more life!

My turn to blog this month happened to land on my birthday. Today, I am 25 years old–old enough to rent a car–and am up for celebrating!

I’ve seen people reach this age and commence to freak out because of all they were supposed to have done by 25–get married, have kids, land the dream job and dream house, and so on–but that’s not how I want to spend this day or this year. Sure, there’s a whole slew of milestones on a life list I would have liked to reach by now (oh, salary and benefits, one day we will meet) and aspects of my life I want to change, but I want to spend more time celebrating what I do have in my life, not lamenting what isn’t.

This morning, I kicked off the day with a bowl of cereal and a challenge: to jog the full loop at Iroquois Park non-stop, twice. Last year on this day, I huffed and puffed those hills and completed the full route jogging non-stop for the first time, so I thought I’d up the ante a little this year. My knees didn’t like it, and I was sweating glistening like crazy, but I pushed through, and 6.4 miles later, made it to the end. While my pace was nothing to write home about, I was excited just to finish and not pass out at the end.

Whatever your age, keep on challenging yourself and celebrating yourself.

Running past the woods today, I was thinking about people I’ve known in my life who never reached 25 and how incredibly lucky I am to be healthy enough to still be here, running. Today, I celebrate my health and my community–friends, family, neighbors, social justice allies, and YMCA pals. You should go celebrate something today! I plan on celebrating by crossing the bridge and having the best ice cream in all of Kentuckiana at Mom & Pop’s Cone Corner in New Albany later today. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Ending bullying is a shared responsibility

Earlier today, I had intended to write a blog post about this no sugar experiment my roommate and I are doing, but then I went to the movies. And I cried. I shook my hands at the movie screen a few times, laughed a few times, but I mostly cried. The movie that got me all worked-up is the documentary Bully. In short, it’s a wonderfully crafted film that follows five different families who are struggling with different aspects of the bullying crisis in America. There’s a family whose son ended his own life at age 17 after being harassed at school for years. A teenage girl whose whole family has been ostracized since she came out as being gay. And then there’s the 12 year-old boy, Alex, who has a heart of gold and a gorgeous smile, but he comes off as “weird” to other kids and is constantly physically and verbally bullied by classmates.

I’m not writing a movie review on the YMCA blog (though I will say it was amazing and powerful and worth seeing–check out the trailer here). I’m writing about this movie today because the parents and young people in the film, while they struggle and feel deep pain, are working to try to make change and to improve the lives of children in America, and that falls right in line with our work at the Y. One area of focus for the YMCA is Youth Development. We believe that all kids deserve the opportunity to discover who they really are and what they can achieve. Through our many different programs, from childcare to sports to leadership development, we work to cultivate values and skills in children that will help them make positive choices in their lives. But this work isn’t just the responsibility of the YMCA–it falls on us all.

The film tonight showed just how much power lay in our words and actions–how deeply they can hurt and how high they can lift. We may not be on the playground or the school bus anymore, but us adults can fall into similar patterns, like gossiping and forming cliques, that share the same elements of childhood bullying. I don’t have children and don’t know if I will ever have any, but I want to set a positive example for any kids I might encounter by living and speaking in a way that doesn’t demean or hurt others. Doing that won’t always be easy or comfortable (just flip on the TV or open a magazine; our media is often glorified gossip) but it’s something I think we could all stand to do.

To learn more about the movement to end bullying, please check out Stand for the Silent, an organization founded by the Smalley family after they lost their 11 year-old son to suicide.

Free outdoor event season begins!

Longer daylight hours, warm temperatures, parks bursting with vibrant colors: spring is definitely my season. There are few joys in life sweeter or more simple than taking a walk in the park with a friend on a sunny day, and with spring you get lots of opportunities for those walks. On top of spring being the season where we all come out of hibernation–farewell bulky winter clothes, hello shorts and sandals!–this is also when the city pops with a great variety of free events. Below are just a handful of events happening over the next few months in our grand city that I’m looking forward to. Feel free to share more in the comments!

Iroquois Amphitheater movie nights — While the summer movie series at Iroquois Amphitheater doesn’t kick off until June, I’m already stoked just looking at the schedule. I’ve been meaning to see The Help, now I’ll wait and enjoy it for free at my favorite park.

University of Louisville men’s baseball — I’ll admit I’m not a huge baseball fan (or sports fan, period), but when the games are free and the hot dogs tasty, I can get roused up and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with the best of them. Grab the kids or some pals and check out a free U of L baseball game.

WFPK Waterfront Wednesday — This concert series goes from April through September and is always the last Wednesday of the month. This is a great way to enjoy a view of the Ohio River and listen to some great music.

Volunteering — You can volunteer at plenty of places year-round, but if I can soak up some rays and fresh air AND do something good at the same time, I’d rather do that. Olmsted Parks Conservancy is a great organization to volunteer for if you’re a big fan of our parks system. It’s also a neat way to learn more the different vegetation in the park. And coming up the week of April 15th is Mayor Fischer’s Week of Service. Volunteer opportunities abound all over the community for this special week.

Shakespeare in the Park — This another one that’s a couple months off, but I’m already looking forward to seeing The Bard’s Much Ado About Nothing at Central Park.

Kentucky Derby Festival — Once March Madness ends, the city barely has a moment to recuperate before the Kentucky Derby Festival starts. From chow wagons to concerts to parades, and, of course fireworks, there will be plenty to do before the big day in May.

What are you and your family looking forward to this spring?

Philanthropy…What It Really Means

Today we have a guest blog post from our fearless leader and CEO, Steve Tarver…

The last 10 days have been an incredible set of experiences both professionally and personally. Last Thursday, I returned from a 6 day trip to Hong Kong. I flew from Hong Kong to Boston and then drove to Newport, Rhode Island, where I watched my son graduate from Naval Officer Development School. Both experiences were unbelievable privileges to experience. In the middle of it all, our own community had to respond to the weather related needs.

I was able to spend time at the Hong Kong YMCA, a 110 year old organization with a rich history in this bustling city of 7.5 million people living in a very small area. It’s a very diverse city that has history, modern business, great wealth, and poverty all within blocks of each other. Hong Kong has the greatest wealth gap in the world.

I was there to share case studies on membership, youth development, and community health. (This was a result of the Louisville YMCA’s reputation in these areas. Thanks to all our staff and volunteers for allowing this to be the case.) Included in the group were representatives from the Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs made up of 27 countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, among others.

During the presentation on community health, I was talking about diabetes, obesity, and tobacco policy, lifestyle for granted when the initial issues raised were malnutrition, malaria, and dengue (acute viral disease similar to malaria also called “breakbone disease”). The Y’s located there are doing amazing work in health, community development, education, and human rights.

Even in Hong Kong, I became aware of the severe weather rolling in. Fortunately, our immediate area was spared, unlike our neighbors just to the north. Our terrific staff began to look at ways to help before the wind stopped blowing. Laurie Madden from challenged us to help. Melanie Cox made contact with a local church  in Henryville. Andy Pierce coordinated with the Red Cross. Within hours, each of our Y’s, had set up collection stations and lists of needed items. Many staff, members, neighbors, and volunteers contributed in many ways – communication, coordination, logistics, and delivery.

It started by providing 20 tables to a church so that meals could be served. Following were 3 trailer loads of supplies, mostly cleaning supplies and toiletries. One of our members, a five year old girl, however, donated her personal bible given to her as an infant…”I want those children to have it, Momma,” she said.

The Y family gave until being told that the need had been met. All done within about 72 hours. Do you see why I say so frequently what a privilege it is to serve with our staff and volunteers?

My son is now a Lieutenant in the US Navy.  He will serve as an audiologist at the 29 Palms Marine Base in California.  The Naval Station Newport is on a peninsula where it is very cold and windy this time of year.  My son told of training in the “Rose Garden” (a sand pit) and highly regimented procedures, meal times, and great honor in the work that is done.  I was able to observe some of the closing training activities including comments of the “Chief” – their drill instructor, and several of the staff officers.  Even though the Chief had frequently kicked their butts, woke them with whistles and bullhorns (sometimes after only 30-60 minutes of sleep), and took them to the Rose Garden, they loved the guy.

I was touched by a couple of things.  First was the amazing commitment that these men and women have to the protection of our freedom and rights – past, present, and future.  There are regular references to the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice in these protections.  How many of us profess a willingness to die as part of our jobs?

Second were the comments made by Chief Hebert (pronounced a’-bear). He gave them 5 guidelines for success. The first was, “Integrity is everything. Without integrity, you have nothing and are lost.”

The second comment was, “There is no room for ‘drama’. You must maintain a focus on the MISSION!”

And this brings us to today. Our Annual Giving Campaign is not about drama. It’s about a passionate commitment to allowing those in our community that can benefit from a relationship with the YMCA to become part of the Y family. You have heard many stories of the impact of these experiences.

Philanthropy – from Greek, “to love people”. We are blessed to have such an attitude in our country. That’s all we are offering to our friends and colleagues –please focus on the mission!

Thank you for your PHILANTHROPY!

Guest post by our Southeast Family YMCA Executive Director!

Wow, January is over now. What an amazing experience working at a Y is for the month of January. The volume of people in and out of our facility is tremendous with new folks joining and other members committing to life changes.

What a wonderful opportunity our new and old members present to us. The YMCA of Greater Louisville has 3894 over 8000 people that are now part of our family. Those people chose to join this YMCA, chose to trust us with the responsibility to help them accomplish a change or improvement in their life. Let’s face it, everyone has a reason for joining or continuing to be a member of the YMCA. If you are joining you have a need or dissatisfaction that you think the YMCA can help you solve. For each of our staff and volunteers the responsibility of being that “solution” is very important to us.

We go about that in a variety of ways:

- We continue to be told via both surveys and anecdotal comments that we have the friendliest staff around and that is not an accident. We do want the environment here to be friendly, welcoming and genuinely supportive. But it is not just a staff thing, our members have in large part created that as well. Watching new folks embraced and adopted into the group is gratifying to see; it reflects the environment here.

- We are following up in writing, electronically and on the phone with all of our new members to check on the progress they are making. Also, we are encouraging each new member to have an individual appointment with a member of our staff team in an area they are interested in such as: aquatics, wellness, group exercise or family programming. These meetings will help set realistic goals and help our staff do a better job of following up in a personal and meaningful way. We really do want to help every one of our member achieve and succeed.

- New member survey’s and member satisfaction survey’s are a tool we really rely on to learn how people feel about the experience and what we can do better to help our members reach their individual measures of success.

Hopefully we can see continued success and many of our newest members will be with us for a long period of time and what we do the YMCA can help them.

 

“It’s Never Too Late to Change Your Life”

It’s that time of year!  We’ve all noticed that our gyms are busier than usual.  Our facilities are packed with new members who are looking to start a healthy lifestyle. I speak to many members who are looking to hit the gym hard and drop those pounds as quick as possible.  It is important to remember that when starting your workout regimen that you keep your mood positive.  I can tell you first hand that it is hard not to discouraged when you work out hard all week and then see that you have only dropped a pound or two when you weigh in.  STAY POSITIVE!  It’s not all about losing the pounds, it’s about creating an active lifestyle.  The hardest part is getting started! So grab a friend, and a bottle of water and get moving!  It’s time to start a new, healthier you!  Check out the Y’s website to see how we can better assist you!

Living Longer with the Y

Shedding pounds, gaining confidence

Some people look to famous people and historical figures for inspiration, and while I’m definitely one of those people who can dig a good quote from Gandhi or Einstein, I feel more personally moved by the everyday people I actually interact with, and the YMCA Weight Loss program highlights that point perfectly.

Since September, I’ve had the great privilege of facilitating the YMCA Weight Loss group at our Southwest branch and have met some wonderful people through this program. One member who always brightens up our Monday evening class is Lisa Garrett. Lisa started the program at the Southwest Y back in October and has since lost about 30 pounds! Being witness to Lisa’s weight loss journey has been such a treat for me–I thought it was only fair to let everyone else in on how awesome this lady is. So, let’s hear a little from her.

Why did you join the YMCA Weight Loss program? I was ready for a change. I was sick of feeling unhealthy and was frustrated about not being happy with myself. There was no one who could change that but me. I didn’t think about it too much; I just jumped in.

What positive changes have you experienced since joining the program? My self-confidence is amazing! I’m happier, more outgoing. I feel more young at heart. I used to be the one waiting on things to happen, now I’m more of a go-getter.

What do you enjoy most about the program? The overall sense of support and well-being everyone has for each other. Having a sounding board. The support has definitely been the best part of the program.

What advice would you give someone wanting to lose weight? Don’t over-think it; just jump in and do it, then there’s less time to talk yourself out of it. Sometimes the first step is the hardest, but remember that you are worth it. Making a lifestyle change like this is hard, but it is so, so worth it.

So, like Lisa says, it’s hard work, but it is so worth it.

If you want to learn more about the YMCA Weight Loss program, contact our Weight Loss Coordinator, Erin Brown, at 502 314 1613 or at yweightloss@ymcalouisville.org.