Last week, I sat down with my host site mentor Chelsea Reeves at the duPont branch of Florida’s First Coast YMCA and picked her brain about her time with the Y. Chelsea Reeves is the Senior Director of Youth Development Grant Programs and is starting on her second year in the position; But don’t be fooled; her roots with the Y run deep. She worked at the Johnson Family YMCA between 2006 and 2009, dealing mainly with a weight management program that focused on partnering with local churches to help their members get more physically active and adopt healthy eating habits. Her first stint with the Johnson Y is telling of her motivation for joining the YMCA team. Having been trained in public health, she was initially drawn to the Y by the opportunities it afforded her to be involved with health-focused projects and initiatives like the weight management project. Since then, she has fallen in love with the mission and goals of the Y and its many other projects.
We talked in an empty activity room in seats that would later be filled by giddy elementary school children. It was a great picture of a typical late morning at our branch of the Y: quiet stillness blanketed over the building as the staff worked and waited in anticipation of the return of students. In the hallway, passersby could hear our voices as Chelsea explained to me how much she enjoyed watching kids complete activities during their afterschool programs and how fun it was to work special Y-sponsored events.
She mentioned time and again during the interview that she wished everyone could see the Y through her eyes. We both agreed that many people unknowingly perceive the Y as the “summer camp organization”. In reality, the YMCA is deeply committed to filling many of the health and personal development needs of all aged groups. Its three main focus areas are youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility, which allows the YMCA to span programming to meet a wide number of community needs. In addition to its famous summer camps and afterschool programs, the Y also provides adult wellness classes to prevent or manage chronic diseases, GED preparation, advocacy programs, academic support, as well as a myriad of other services. “There really is something for everybody,” she told me halfway through our conversation, a statement that we both wished we could broadcast to the general public.
Chelsea has high hopes that perceptions will change and that the Y will continue to do great things in communities all over Florida. Since coming to the DuPont branch, she has seen an expansion in the number of schools participating in afterschool programs. She is looking forward to seeing that trend continue in all counties of Northeast Florida, where many children struggle with childhood obesity as well as lack of access to safe, affordable, and active afterschool activities. One of her personal goals is to continue to help the organization receive and maintain more grants for health-related programs, especially those that will benefit typically underserved areas. As for the YMCA as a whole, she hopes to see the Y continue to work on its branding so that it might be able been reach all populations, not just children. Her ultimate dream is to see the Y become a go-to community resource for more people in Florida.
My role is to create and deliver lesson plans to elementary school aged children about developing healthy lifestyle habits. I try to serve with Chelsea’s words in mind, remembering that my service plays an important part of being able to extend the Y’s reach into communities. Every time I travel to a school to visit their afterschool program, I see kids light up at being able to participate in fitness testing and activities; each smile is a reminder of how impactful that my service and the services of the Y are to so many people. That is why I plan to do what I can to be of best service to them and to the Y. By the end of this service term, I hope to be able to say that I contributed to helping to make Chelsea’s dream come true.
Last week, I sat down with my host site mentor Chelsea Reeves at the duPont branch of Florida’s First Coast YMCA and picked her brain about her time with the Y. Chelsea Reeves is the Senior Director of Youth Development Grant Programs and is starting on her second year in the position; But don’t be fooled; her roots with the Y run deep. She worked at the Johnson Family YMCA between 2006 and 2009, dealing mainly with a weight management program that focused on partnering with local churches to help their members get more physically active and adopt healthy eating habits. Her first stint with the Johnson Y is telling of her motivation for joining the YMCA team. Having been trained in public health, she was initially drawn to the Y by the opportunities it afforded her to be involved with health-focused projects and initiatives like the weight management project. Since then, she has fallen in love with the mission and goals of the Y and its many other projects.