YMCA

Program on May 29th was a presentation by Mark Ihrke, the director of the YMCA branch at Ridgedale. He started out by saying that the YMCA is no longer a gym and swimming pool based organization, but that they have a wide range of family –related programs.

 

The YMCA was founded in 1844 and is now the largest non-profit organization in the US. Almost all of our membership has had some experience with the programs they have offered: Camp Christmas Tree, Camp Ihduhapi, Indian Princesses, swimming lessons for starters.

While they still have their swimming pools and gyms, their focus has changed to give outdoor experiences to kids which they would not otherwise get. His branch has a 24 page catalog of opportunities for kids from age 4 to 15 to learn and experience the outdoors.
 

Many of the kids they handle are from the inner-city, and the YMCA programs are their first encounters with outdoor experiences. They have adjustable fee schedules to accommodate families that have limited
resources.