Thursday, April 5, 2012

Congratulations to Sammy Jo Greulich for winning the long Beach Unified School District Education Foundation’s ‘Most Inspirational Student Award’. This prestigious award was given at the Annual Education Foundation Dinner. Sammy is a true leader of the Youth Institute and was just hired as one of our staff at our Longfellow Elementary After School WRAP Site.

Congratulations from all of us at the Community Development YMCA Sammy Jo!!!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Family Involvement Family Art Day


Families from Stevenson, Roosevelt and Burnett Elementary schools, which are currently on intersession, gathered at St Luke’s on Monday, April 2nd to do a Welcome Spring Arts and Craft Social.  After learning about College Readiness for four weeks and working really hard on In-Home Education for eight weeks, the parents and children enjoyed sitting and sharing together a social time where they were able to laugh and play with other families. They were very creative and did fabulous decorations including bunnies, flowers, Easter baskets and many other crafts. Everyone took home their creations as well as Easter eggs and candy. To see me more photos of this event CLICK HERE.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

The YMCA Cambodia Project

   Three years ago, our Cambodian Staff had a new idea, to help Cambodian American's connect to their heritage in Cambodia. It was an easy idea to grasp considering two things: In Long Beach, we have the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia and our branch reflects this by having the most Cambodian YMCA employees in the country. The idea became a goal and three years later this goal was met.  Last November, we sent 6 of our Cambodian Staff to Cambodia to participate in a cultural exchange. The trip was a huge success. It was also filmed and a documentary was produced by our very own Change Agent Productions. We are now proud to announce the documentary is complete and is available to view on YouTube (www.youtube.com/ymcacambodiaproject) or you can watch it below. We are very excited for the opportunities that this production will open up for not only our staff but also the Cambodian YMCA we have partnered with.  Enjoy the film.
        For more information on the YMCA Cambodia Project and how to get involved please visit, www.ymcacambodiaproject.org




Monday, January 16, 2012

Community Development Board of Directors

Left to Right: Mike Alviar, Willie Elston, Henry Ung, Julie Mendell, Vicky Hernandez, Milton Cortez, Jose Lara, Sally Lew, Karen Hilburn, Scott Eberlein, Jose Joaquin, Robin Thorne, Bob Cabeza, Cheryl Lee
Our Community Development Board of Directors just finished their Annual Board Retreat last Saturday, January 14th. They worked on the Board Structure, the Branch Strategic Plan, How to get the Board more involved and the Strong Kids Campaign. We also formed our NEW Program, Financial, Development, Nominating and Program Committees. A great time of fellowship and hard work was had by all! Many thanks to Sally Lew, Curt Gibbs and Alan Kumamoto for organizing and running the event. Many thanks also to Ron Ung who coordinated the event location and logistics. Check out our very talented and good looking CD YMCA Board of Managers in the photo as well!