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REFLECTIONS AND THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR
Late last year
we celebrated the work of our part-time and full-time staff with a
Saturday evening at the Y for employees and their families. Many
people do not realize that in any given pay period we issue about
500 paychecks and during the year and will employ over 1000
different individuals. Our staff from across our group of YMCAs
is talented, able and committed to helping to develop one of the
best YMCAs in America. Our staff is also very diverse and
represents the communities we serve.
At our staff
celebration we announced the recipients of a new award called the
Mission Champion Award. This award is given to part–time
employees who demonstrate a strong commitment to customer service
and recognizes exemplary work. Our first ever Mission Champion
Award was given to Jamuna Easwaran who works at our Fry Family
YMCA with our Kiddie Kountry child care program. At the
conclusion of the presentation ceremony Jamuna asked if I had
thought about who the Award had been presented to. She went on to
explain that she is not young, is not a man and is not Christian!
As we visited it occurred to me that this was a most appropriate
winner given our commitment to being inclusive and diverse. We
must never forget that our work requires that we embrace all
people and welcome their participation even if they don’t have the
funds or come from different backgrounds or honor God through
another religion. We are proud of this commitment and are
delighted that Jamuna is on our staff.
In late
December the YMCA lost a great friend and supporter. Ken Martin,
our Board of Directors Secretary and long time fundraiser, died
unexpectedly of a heart attack. He attended a Y Board meeting on
the day he died. Two weeks earlier Ken had shared a touching
opening thought at our monthly Executive Committee meeting about
thankfulness. Ken had a kidney and pancreas transplant nine years
ago and reflected in his comments on nine reasons he was thankful
for the additional nine years his operation had allowed him to
live. He talked about love of family and friends, of his
appreciation of his colleagues at work, about the YMCA and about
the importance of community. It was obvious why Ken found
satisfaction in his work with the YMCA. Ken deeply valued those
things on which the YMCA is built: strong kids, strong families
and strong communities.
My joy in
working with the YMCA is that everyday I am blessed to work with
volunteers and staff just like Ken Martin. And the legacy of
thankfulness and hope that he leaves those that were privileged to
know him will sustain our memory of him and enrich our tomorrows
as we move into a new year.
Submitted by: Tom Beerntsen
President/CEO
Heritage YMCA Group
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