Naomi Bell's Classification
Naomi admits to confusing us - at the moment her name is part time Bell and part time Murray but she's moving to Murray. She'll let us know.
Naomi's grandparents, who were Jefferies, were from Midland and though she lived with her family further away they always came here for summers so she's got a long history. Her father was from NB and joined the RCMP out of school. Her mother was a nursing student and was lifeguarding for the summer at Point Pelee when they met. She and her sister Anita were born in Toronto but her father lobbied for a transfer to Orillia and they moved to the cottage when Naomi was 11. She went to MSS and was a camp counsellor in the summers.
She went to the U of Guelph to take Criminal Justice and while she found that interesting she didn't see herself doing it as a career so she switched to Geography and after graduation came back here. She worked for the Town as a counsellor and for the Early Years Centre and found she enjoyed the recreation aspect of those jobs so she dropped her intention to teach and joined the Y, first on a maternity contract and then moving into other areas. In 2008 she took on the position of General Manager.
She actually met Brad Murray 17 years ago but they became more serious over the last 5 years and were recently married. He's a civilian at the OPP and a volunteer firefighter. The are keen boaters and give a home to a dog and a cat.
The YMCA is an amazing organization with a long history. Founded in 1844 in London by 12 men intent to improve the spiritual education of young men. It grew through the UK and within 10 years was spreading to Europe and then NA and Australia. The first one in Canada opened in Montreal in 1851 and by 1900 the Y was a presence across the country. There are now 53 Associations in Canada but many more facilities - the Simcoe-Muskoka Assoc. has 8, with Gravenhurst being the newest. Altogether it serves over 2 million people in a thousand towns. Our branch opened in the late 1800's in a storefront at Queen and Dominion, moved to Hugel Ave. in 1900 and to Little Lake Park in 1967.
The Simco-Muskoka Assoc. offers a broad range of services across the district including camps and international services. It is the largest provider of non-profit child care in the area, with 3,800 spaces. There are 3 licensed operations in Midland run by the Y including the one at MSS. The Midland branch offers employment services, one of three in the District to do so, along with Huntsville and Parry Sound. Job search services, mentoring. placement and financial assistance are offered to potential employees and job creation and subsidies are offered to employers. Youth Services for our area are run through outreach out of Barrie. Youth Quest teaches employment skills, offers an internship program and helps youth start companies - 20 of which were created last summer. The Y Marketplace helps them develop and sell a product and continues to support budding entrepreneurs over a longer term. Newcomers services are also Barrie based but staff come here to offer language training and the courses are always full.
Camp Kitchi resonates with all long term residents. It's been operating for 90 years and serves kids of all ages, working to develop spirit, mind and body. Naomi is a third generation camper there. There is also Geneva Park on Lake Couchiching. 150 acres with a long waterfront it is still evolving its services but currently focuses on youth leadership, family programs, conferences and staff training.
The Midland Y has formed a partnership with the one in Sierra Leone and is trying to help them recover from the Civil War that raged there for years by training workers, teaching about HIV and exchanging staff and youth to teach about the different cultures and needs.
Our Y has gone through many changes - it used to just hand out keys for people who wanted to start before the staff got there. It's been renovated a couple of times, most recently in 2005 - 2007 and is now 40,000 sq. ft. and houses a gym, 5 change rooms, a pool, training equipment, a track, a racketball court and the child care spaces. There are 3,300 members of which about 60% are adults.
The Strong Kids campaign operates from the assumption that every kid deserves a chance and offers access and financial support to 850 families and individuals which Naomi feels is a very important contribution to the community. As a high unemployment and low income area there is a lot of demand for this king of service. Funding raising contributes about $40,000.00 to this program but the Y spends 5 times that on it.
Youth Leadership is run in partnership with the Weber Foundation and has given over 650 youth some amazing opportunities. This program is run at all 8 facilities in the District and operates with kids from gr. 6 to 12 to build leadership, teach teamwork, help them manage conflict and develop management skills through exercises and training rather than lecturing. It builds community and global awareness, gives the students travel opportunities in Canada and abroad and has sent young people to work as volunteers to projects in Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Us and Sierra Leone. Naomi says the kids feel the opportunities have a huge impact on their lives. She learns as much from them as they take from the program and now that it has been in place for a while past graduates of the program are coming back to help, reaching out to the Y again to give back.
There is a fairly new CEO at the District and they have just finished a new Strategic Plan to run from 2012 - 2017. The Y's are being seen as community hubs that work to alleviate youth health problems, poverty and unemployment and try to inspire people to reach their full potential. Their new brand is MY Y and it Inspires Youth, is Strong, and Opens Doors. They are working with others in partnership, they develop technologies to help connect, they teach leadership and build competencies and they work to develop a culture of teams.
Naomi thanked Roger for sponsoring her and said she is enjoying her membership in Rotary.