Dear YMCA Friends,

We need your help and support. We are reaching out to you as we are entering the second year of this global pandemic that has negatively impacted the lives of the citizens in our communities and has had a significant financial impact on your YMCA.

Over the last year, your YMCA of Central East Ontario has experienced a significant decrease in revenues, and we find ourselves projecting a deficit budget in 2021.  In 2020, we had no other choice but to access our reserves to a significant degree to re-open our doors to provide programs and services to a dwindling number of people.  Pre-pandemic, our membership numbers across our regions were upwards of 17,000. This number has gone down by 60% to 6,800.

We have adapted to keep YMCA Members, Staff and Volunteers safe, we increased sanitization, installed barriers, safety protocols, added personal protective equipment and completed building infrastructure upgrades within our YMCA Centres. All of these at a considerable cost to your YMCA.

Your YMCA of Central East Ontario has been serving our communities for more than 150 years. We have experienced challenges in the past, but nothing to the degree we are seeing today.

You are a member of the Y Community, so you witness the benefits the YMCA brings to children, adults, and families every day. We change lives.

We hope that you will agree that the programs and services delivered by the YMCA has had a positive impact on your personal health and well-being and those of the citizens of our community.  We believe that those that are currently accessing the YMCA need us now and further we believe that people will need their YMCA Family and Friends more than ever as we slowly come out of this pandemic, not only for their physical well-being but their mental health and social well-being.

We have been there to support our community during this difficult time including offering Emergency Child Care, Emergency Summer Day Camp Programs, an Emergency Isolation Centre for the Homeless and we introduced virtual programming, to name just a few.

Even though you are not accessing your YMCA at this time we are asking you to consider taking your monthly membership payments that are currently on hold, off hold and convert those monthly payments to a donation for which you will receive a tax receipt. Contact your local branch to make arrangements.

Just click on the link and follow the instructions to make a one time or monthly donation to your YMCA. Click here to access Your Y Is Here.