Partners with the Community
for More than 40 Years.

Within the walls of its two branches in Berwyn and Exton, you’ll find all the latest exercise equipment and programs promoting a healthy spirit, mind and body such as aerobics classes, swimming and yoga. You’ll also find caring staff and volunteers enriching the more than 420 children in child care and preschool programs.

On any given day, the chances are good that you’ll see Active Older Adults coming together for fellowship and a friendly game of cards, teens working on a project to improve the environment or concerned citizens learning lifesaving CPR skills.

What you may not realize is what the more than 50 community organizations who partner with the YMCA are doing to make countless lives better. Together with YMCA staff and volunteers these partnerships help to provide needy children holiday presents, a place for the mentally challenged to train for the Special Olympics and athletic opportunities for area school districts.

Delaware Valley Children’s Charity
This 13-year collaboration has been matching sponsors from the community with children in need. This year, six thousand children will receive gifts they otherwise may not get through the generosity of individuals and organizations in the area. Twenty-four moving trucks will be jammed to capacity with in excess of 30-thousand brightly wrapped gifts. For their part, the YMCA will make the holidays for 700 children better this year. For those who want to participate, donor packets are available in the courtesy desks at the branch locations. From stuffing sponsorship envelopes to delivering the gifts, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities available. Visit the Y’s website to see how to help.

Magnolia School
On-campus at the Upper Main Line YMCA is the only full-day intensive speech and language school in Pennsylvania. Children come from all over the Delaware Valley to attend the Magnolia Speech School Demonstration Program operated by TALK, Inc.– a non-profit organization. The school uses a proven phonics-based curriculum called the Association Method along with occupational and other therapies to help students with severe communication disorders, including autism, to speak, read, write and understand language. Each day, thanks to the loving support of the professionals and volunteers, the youth are better able to express themselves and interact with their families and the community. The collaboration with the YMCA includes special needs gymnastics, tennis and swimming programs. Younger students are also mainstreamed into the Y’s preschool classes. Nestled among the outer buildings of the stately Cassatt Mansion, the Magnolia School is located in a state of the art modular donated by GE TIP/Mod in Devon. For more information, or to volunteer, contact Melinda Kotler at 610-249-9632.

Special Populations
The YMCA provides 170 Special Olympians the training facilities they need to prepare for their events. The Special Olympics partnership includes area organizations such as the Devereux Foundation and Radnor Hunt. Open Doors provides social, educational and recreational activities for members in the community who are mentally challenged. Each Friday evening, an average of forty individuals from both branches participate in activities ranging from bowling to dances. To volunteer, or to get more information about how the YMCA is making a difference for special populations in the community, contact Kathleen Wagner at 610-854-1625.

Partnership for Healthy Youth (PHY)/Communities that Care (CTC)
The YMCA of the Upper Main Line has stepped forward to serve as the lead agency for the Great Valley Partnership for Healthy Youth (PHY) and Downingtown Area Communities That Care (CTC). Based on successful public health models of community action, Communities That Care was championed in Pennsylvania by Michele Ridge, the wife of former Governor Tom Ridge. CTC is a grassroots program to build healthier communities for our youth. Both the Lionville Community YMCA and the Upper Main Line YMCA branches have joined other community based organizations to discern the risk factors that impact youth and then collaborate to pool talents and resources to offer creative strategies, programs and interventions that will help youth make healthier choices. To that end, key initiatives have been implemented in both the Great Valley and Downingtown communities – after school mentoring programs, parenting workshops, school resource officers, youth dances, focus groups, and an expo of participating organizations which included information about volunteer opportunities and financial aid. The Y believes that expanding its role in this initiative is an important opportunity to match vital community programming with the Y’s mission of community outreach and building character of young people.

Sports Facilities
The YMCA of the Upper Main Line also has relationships with area school districts. The Lionville Community YMCA is the home pool and training facility for Downingtown High School East and West Swim Programs. The Downingtown School District also conducts physical education classes and marching band practice on YMCA fields. Those fields were developed through collaboration with the district and the YMCA. At the Upper Main Line YMCA, Great Valley High School and Conestoga High School train in the YMCA pools and Conestoga joins the Delaware County Christian School and Delaware Valley Friends School in using the YMCA tennis facilities.

Through collaborations with the community, the YMCA continues in its mission to be the leading charitable non-profit community resource.

For more information about Community programs at the YMCA, contact Brad Zerr at 610.854.1626 or brad.zerr@umly.org.