This week, we were delighted to ring in the holiday season and celebrate the community impact of 2022 with our Executive Board, community leaders, Y supporters, and friends at this year’s South Shore YMCA Year of Impact Celebration on December 5th at Black Rock Country Club. There was much to celebrate, as 2022 was a year of recovery, community impact, and opportunity.
Our Y expanded membership by 50% with a keen focus on serving families, helping more people find their place to belong, to improve their health, to stay active and engaged within our Y community. We are now serving over 28,000 members, and it is wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces of those who have returned to the Y this year.
“Our focus, as we move forward, will continue to be on membership,” said South Shore YMCA President and CEO, Paul Gorman. “That is our foundation. That’s where our programs spring from. We will continue to strengthen and build programs that best serve our members, especially families. Families want to get their lives back to normalcy, through camp, connection, sports and recreational programs, and the Y has been that place.”
Thanks to the generosity of our Y donors, members, staff, and supporters, more people had access to enjoy Y services, camps, membership, and programs through financial assistance this year. We saw dramatic increases in the need for life-saving swim lessons, summer camp, medical wellness and adaptive programming, quality early education and childcare, and food assistance through our Germantown Neighborhood Center Food Pantry. Your support ensures these services remain available to all.
As our Y looks to the future, we are investing in our people, seeking to find and retain talented, dedicated people to help serve our community. And, with a focus on membership and families, our Y is also investing in our spaces to better serve them, with capital projects that include new learning space at our Natural Science Center, the opening of our newly reimagined Outdoor Aquatics Center at the Emilson YMCA in June 2023, and future plans for the expansion of the Hale Family YMCA. We want to recognize and thank our donors and our Capital Committee: Len Bicknell, Paul Caruso, Alex Clark, Peter Finnegan, Paul Leone, Paul Mollica, and Matt Shadrick for their incredible work. Special thanks to our committee chair, Dan DeMarco, and honorary chairs: Rob Hale and Karen Hale, Herb Emilson and Jeff Corwin whose leadership and generosity made this campaign successful in raising over $10 million dollars in 9 months.
“We owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to our outgoing South Shore YMCA Executive Board Chair, James Dunphy, President & CEO of South Shore Bank, who has helped us navigate the challenges of the pandemic and kept our Y strong and poised to expand our mission,” said Paul Gorman. Jim handed the gavel to our new Executive Board Chair, Matt Shadrick, and Board Development Chair, Kathie McDonough, then welcomed new board members Stephanie Bandzak, Philip Chong, Amish Desai, and Mike Mullin. An announcement of the new slate of officers for 2023 -2024 term: Matt Shadrick, Chair; Mike Mullin, First Vice President, and Treasurer and Larry DiNardo, Clerk concluded the event.
“As the year comes to an end, thank you all for being a part of the South Shore YMCA family,” said Paul Gorman. “I look forward to all that we will accomplish together in 2023 to serve and strengthen our community.”
