Our Speaker, Shannon Doram Shannon Doram
and Franco Savoia Lorne Larson, Tim Heaton,
Shannon Doram
and Franco Savoia | | Lorne Larson introduced speaker Shannon Doram, President & CEO of YMCA Calgary, who began her remarks by thanking everyone in the community who has contributed to the success of the YMCA in Calgary. Ms. Doram provided a brief history of the YMCA in Calgary, beginning in 1926 when it moved into the old fire hall Number 4 in Bridgeland and began its public programming. Although the YMCA is perhaps best known for the facilities it operates, it delivers a wide variety of programming at more than sixty sites around Calgary, including significant programming for First Nations youth. The YMCA opened Camp Chief Hector in 1930, and the camp will be celebrating its 90th anniversity in 2020. However, the development of YMCA facilities really began to take off in 1988 with the opening of the Gray Family Eau Claire facility. Subsequent facilities have come rapidly. - 1997: The Melcor (formerly Crowfoot) YMCA opened in the city's northwest quadrant.
- 2002: The Shawnessey location opened in the southwest.
- 2012: The Saddletowne YMCA opened at the Genesis Centre, which is the location of one of our community hubs.
- 2012: The South Health Campus opened Canada's first YMCA inside a hospital, which means the South Health Campus is likely the world's first hospital to host a climbing wall.
- 2016: The Remington YMCA opened in Quarry Park.
- 2016: The Quarry Park Child Development Centre opened. This is one of the largest child care centres in Canada, accommodating more than 350 children every day.
- 2018: The Shane Homes YMCA opened. This is the busiest YMCA in the world, with an active membership of over 17,500.
- 2019: The Brookfield Residential YMCA opened. With a footprint in excess of 330,000 square feet, this is the world's largest.
While these facilities are owned by the city, the YMCA is contracted to provide the programming. |
Ms. Doram then spoke about programming, and highlighted the YMCA's achievements in indigenous, outreach and youth engagement programs. Together these programs serve approximately one thousand young people each week. In 2018 the YMCA provided $1.4 million in subsidies to enable child and youth participation in YMCA experiences, while an additional $3.4 million was provided to support participation in adult programs. The YMCA Achievement Program (YMAP) is the YMCA Calgary response to changing needs within our youth population as Calgary's economic success has led to increased international immigration to the city. These immigrants are arriving with children and it is clear that the needs of youth immigrants greatly differ from the needs of adult immigrants. Immigrant youths experience challenges with high school and high school completion, finding jobs and economic success, and in finding support networks to help them deal with feelings of isolation. Originally a government funded program, YMAP was facing closure when the government funding was cut-back. However, YMCA Calgary was determined that the program should continue. The result has been a 25 year history of working with immigrants in the 15 to 20 year age range in six immigrant communities throughout the city. The program focuses on high school completion and on providing immigrant youth with the skills to be successful in Canada. Through YMAP, immigrant youth receive the opportunity to achieve successful integration into Canadian life through economic integration (teaching youth how to be effective in the job market and achieving financial independence), social integration (networks and access to educational institutions), cultural integration (lifestyles and cultural identity), and political integration (citizenship, voting, civic participation, volunteerism and philanthropy). YMAP has been generously supported over the past fourteen years by Lou MacEachern's fund and by Rotary. Rotary bursaries are awarded annually to YMAP participants in Grade 12 who will be attending post-secondary institutions in the fall. The MacEachern Fund awards six bursaries valued at $1000 to students who are most in need. YMCA Calgary is working to achieve maximum value from the community's investment in the facilities and its programming. Its growth objectives are to serve more people, help solve the challenges facing youth, children and families in Calgary, and to grow its philanthropy. This is best summed up in its mission statement: YMCA Calgary is a charity whose mission is to facilitate and promote the spiritual, mental, physical and social development of individuals and foster a sense of responsibility in the community. At the conclusion of Shannon Doram's remarks, Lorne Larson returned to the lectern to celebrate Lou MacEachern's many contributions to YMAP. In 2005 he initiated the Lou MacEachern Fund with a $1 million donation, which is administered through the Calgary Foundation. Through its careful stewardship, this initial donation has grown to $1.5 million at the end of 2018. Our club has received $110,000 in support of our projects. An additional $440,000 has been donated to other causes in the community. The proceeds have gone primarily to bursaries for students attending Bow Valley College, SAIT, and the Alberta University of the Arts, as well as YMAP. To date, some 200 students have benefitted from these bursaries, who are mainly single parents who have decided to return to school. Franco Savoia thanked our speaker for her inspiring presentation. |
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