Y LEARNING SOCCER TOURNAMENT

Shymel has plenty of reasons to be proud. On April 28, the 10-year-old played goalie for the Kerr Family YMCA Weasels soccer team. During the tournament, Shymel made 12 saves and won MVP honors. It’s hard to believe this is the first year he played the game.

Shymel is one of more than 100 children in the YMCA’s Y Life and Y Learning tutorial programs who participated in the Second Annual Soccer Kids of America and Y Learning Soccer Tournament. Twelve teams from the Alexander, Cary, Durham, Finley, Kerr and Kraft YMCAs faced off at West Cary Middle School to put their new skills in action.

“Most of these kids hadn’t even seen soccer game a few months ago. Their families couldn’t afford to sign their children up for area soccer leagues,” said Michelle Rhino, a YMCA Outreach Director at the Cary Family YMCA. “This tournament is a fun, exciting way for the kids to play this game and show their new skills to their families.”

Over the past few months, students in the Y Learning program have been getting some extra tutoring in the game of soccer. Y Learning is a fully subsidized, after school tutorial program for children in grades 3 – 8. School counselors identify children who need academic assistance. Currently, more than 1,100 students participate thanks to contributions to the Y’s We Build People campaign.

Two years ago, the Y teamed up with Soccer Kids of America. The organization teaches character development and soccer skills at after school sites throughout the country.

When Anthony Hardison heard about the program, he knew the Y and Soccer Kids of America were a perfect fit. Anthony is the community outreach director at the Kerr Family YMCA.  Soon, Y Learning sites throughout the Triangle incorporated the soccer program into their curriculum. This partnership gives kids exposure to a popular sport that helps them get active and have fun.

“It’s crazy how excited the kids are,” exclaimed Anthony. “They are just pumped!”

Even the professionals were pumped. The Carolina RailHawks conducted a clinic for players in between games. The two teams that advanced to the championship game won RailHawks tickets for the players, coaches and families. 

A Different Kind of Spring Break

Liz Simpers led the YMCA Spring Break Mission Trip that was featured in the May 17 News & Observer. Here's a brief interview with the Cary Family YMCA Teen Director.

Where did you go for Spring Break?
We took 40 high schoolers to Washington, D.C. to participate in work with the homeless through an organization called YSOP (Youth Services Opportunities Project). YSOP operates in D.C. and New York City coordinating a variety of programs that deal with hunger and homelessness.


Planning



Our group made and handed out sandwiches one night.We hosted a dinner for the homeless at a downtown church and served meals at the D.C. Soup Kitchen. We worked with a group called Elder Buddies that helps to clean up apartments for senior citizens in danger of being evicted due to unsanitary conditions. 

What did you do there?

One of the most impactful things we did was to go to local park one evening and hand out sandwiches, socks, and toothbrushes to the homeless community.

Hitting the Streets

We told the kids to engage with the community, to talk to them, get to know them, ask their names, and in general, visit with them. You could see kids all over the park sitting with a homeless man or woman, that appreciated the conversation just as much as the sandwiches. Our group of high school kids, from all over the Y branches in the Triangle , learned a lot about what we have in common with the homeless, and how to have compassion for every person we meet.

What is YMCA Leaders Club?
Leaders Club group is part of a national YMCA initiative. At our Y (YMCA of the Triangle), about 100 high school students from local high schools learn what it means to be a leader in the community. During the school year, students learn more about themselves, grow together in meetings, on trips and in service opportunities. Participants must maintain a 3.0 GPA and complete 100 volunteer hours during the year.

What did the teens (and you) learn during the trip?
In DC, we got to get outside of our own little bubble and see people for who they are, not what they make or what they drive, or where they live.

We were all impacted by the reality that homelessness is more an issue of loneliness than economy. When people don’t have family and friends that love them, they are truly alone, and have no resources to support them in a time of crisis. That hit home for a lot of us, and personally made me thankful that I am loved and supported, and would have someone to turn to if I was in a financial crisis.

YMCA Teen Leaders Having Fun


Why do you work at the Y?
I work at the Y because we have a chance to impact lives, truly. We have the venue and the resources to help high school kids discover their true identity, and that is life changing. Where else can I do something like that for a living and watch the community be transformed?


You also led the TOMS walk our YMCA sponsored in April. Why compels you to lead these efforts?
In the year and a half that I have been working at the Cary Y, I've seen amazing growth that I attribute to our volunteer advisors and our kids bringing their friends and families into their lives. A vision for change can be contagious. It is obvious to me, with the success of our TOMS event, that people know they need to do more and WANT to be a part of something bigger than themselves. To be a part of facilitating that is an amazing opportunity.

After the Storm

When a devastating tornado swept through Raleigh on April 16, the Kerr Family YMCA was there to help. Under the leadership of staff member Shannan Feldbusch, the Y partnered with the Red Cross to provide transportation for storm victims living in a temporary shelter at Heritage High School in Wake Forest.

Using YMCA buses and personal vehicles, Kerr Y staff drove victims to their jobs, to meet FEMA inspectors and to doctor’s appointments all over the Triangle. This is just one way the Y answered the call to help. Read Shannan’s account.

I was privileged to be able spend several days with the tornado ravaged residents of Stony Brook Mobile Home park. They were so appreciative of any help. Very simply, they felt helpless. 

Common sight along our route



So many of them said how blessed they were to come out of this storm with their whole family. Some residents in Stony Brook were not so lucky.  

I arrived at the school at 6 a.m. and all the men were ready to go. They were up at the crack of dawn ready to work, even willing to miss breakfast provided by the Red Cross. Despite all the damage, they were determined to get to work on time.

As I took one gentleman to Brentwood Road and Capital Blvd. to get his car, we were amazed at the damage. Some roads were closed. The open roads were filled with trees. Trees on homes, trees on cars. Trees everywhere.

The second man worked for a landscaping company on Aviation Parkway in Morrisville. When the storm hit, he grabbed his wife, his seven-year-old daughter and the rest of the family. They huddled in the bathroom at the middle of his mobile home.

He says the whole house was shaking and it was hard to breathe. They couldn’t see anything because it was pitch black. He said it seemed like forever from the start until the end. In reality, it probably lasted 15 minutes. Later, his wife went to the hospital because her chest was hurting.



More devastation

The third gentleman I spent the most time with is a leukemia survivor. Before he was diagnosed, he was a superintendent of a construction crew that built many familiar structures in Raleigh. He was part of the crew that built Wal Mart and Lowes on Highway 64.
Three years ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. He finished all his treatments. Thanks to a bone marrow transplant, he's now in remission.

He takes about 30 pills each day. He lost all of them in the tornado. He is very weak from his treatments, but somehow found the strength to hold onto the people he loves. His neighbors across the street lost two children and their mom. When the storm passed, those children were found in a tree. When he closes his eyes, those images and memories haunt him. 


All that is left


Two months ago, he tried to insure his home. The insurance company said it was just too old. He figures he lost everything.

Trees smashed the two cars his family owns. His wife can’t go to work because the windshield is gone and mirrors are cracked.

What a huge blow. She provides the only income in their family.

Even though the family lost so much, he says he's blessed.