Welcome to Mission Moment, a series from CEO Amy Vendt where she highlights moments from around the Bath Area Family YMCA that exemplify our association’s commitment to our mission of promoting the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
Creating Connected Communities
Earlier this month, along with more than 3,500 YMCA staff and volunteers from across the country, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the YMCA General Assembly in New Orleans with Lauren Ober, our VP of Strategic Partnerships & Philanthropic Impact.
General Assembly is a national gathering held every three to five years that brings our YMCA movement together to celebrate what we have accomplished, learn from one another, and look toward the future.
This year was especially meaningful as we celebrated the YMCA’s 175-year history and explored what comes next: Creating Connected Communities.
Over three inspiring days, we celebrated the many ways the Y has reinvented itself to meet the changing needs of our communities. From its earliest days of bringing people together in response to rapid social change, through times of war and crisis, then the evolution toward family and fitness, and finally the YMCA we know today—the Y has always adapted while staying true to its purpose.
And now, we are entering our next chapter.
One message from General Assembly that has stayed with me is that belonging is about more than being included. It is about knowing that you matter.
That really resonated with me because I see it happening every day at the Bath Area Family YMCA:
- Our mid-day basketball group comes together three mornings a week—not just to play, but to connect.
- Our Parkinson’s support groups provide a place where people find others who understand and support them.
- Our teens build friendships through Youth & Government and Teen Time.
- Women who meet in group exercise classes develop friendships that continue outside the Y.
- Parents connect through parent-child swim lessons and discover a community of people navigating many of the same experiences.
- Our active older adults travel together, celebrate together, and build friendships that extend well beyond the Y.
These are all examples of connected communities. They remind me that sometimes the most important thing we provide isn’t a program—it’s a place where someone finds their people.
At a time when our country is experiencing unprecedented levels of loneliness and social isolation, the YMCA is uniquely positioned to help. We already know how to bring people together. We already create spaces where relationships grow.
The opportunity before us is to ask:
- What more can we build?
- Who else needs to find their people?
- Who is walking through our doors who needs to know that they matter?
- What new connections can we create?
I came home from General Assembly inspired by our YMCA’s history, energized by our future, and incredibly grateful for the team here at the Bath Area Family YMCA who creates these connections every single day.
For 170 years, our Y has been bringing people together and strengthening our community. Our next chapter is about making sure even more people know they matter—and helping them find where they belong.
I can’t wait to see what we build together.
Amy
Amy Vendt
Chief Executive Officer
Bath Area Family YMCA
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