Moving Us Forward – January / February 2020
Little Rock Nine Member headlines
YMCA King Holiday celebrations
YMCA King Holiday celebrations
The YMCA of South Florida’s 16th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Inspirational Weekend of activities featured keynote speaker Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of the courageous Little Rock Nine members, who was instrumental in desegregating the South in 1957.
The Inspirational Breakfast in Fort Lauderdale and the Inspirational Luncheon in Miami welcomed nearly 800 business and community leaders. The breakfast and luncheon included Community Spirit Awards, honoring the work of local community leaders, as well as, providing Youth Leadership Scholarship Awards in recognition of commitment to social activism, civic engagement and the diversity ideals of Dr. King. Honorees this year include Irma Hunter Wesley of Fort Lauderdale and Enid Pinkney of Miami. Youth honorees are Darrin Decembre of Deerfield High School and Andreen White of Boyd Anderson High School.
This year’s activities kicked off with pre-event reception with sponsors and YMCA Youth Program Teens who were given an opportunity to ask Mrs. Brown-Trickey questions about civil rights and her experience as one of the Little Rock Nine.
The weekend of activities concluded with an MLK Day of Service on the King Holiday with opportunities for community residents to give back and Stand for Something in Miami Dade and Broward counties. There were nearly 400 volunteers who came together to give back to their community. They participated in service projects that included community cleanups, putting together person hygiene care packages for the less fortunate, creating Little Libraries to house free books, community garden beautification, and tree giveaway and ecosystem education.
Thank you to all of our sponsors for your support, especially our major sponsors: breakfast – JM Family Enterprises; luncheon – Miami Heat Charitable Fund; and Day of Service – Broward College, Ocean Bank and FPL.
To find out more, visit our website at ymcastandforsomething.org.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- CEO Message
- Little Rock Nine Member headlines YMCA King Holiday celebrations
- Partnering to provide health options in Weston community
- Bridging the Gap in the Sistrunk Community
- Homestead Y makes kids safer around water
- Helping young girls grow and develop positively
- Making meaningful change in your community
- New L.A. Lee YMCA construction underway
- Y in the News
- SAVE-THE-DATE
CEO Message
Last year was a very busy year and 2020 is shaping up to be just as busy and even more exciting. We’ve had some amazing events in the first month of the year with our Martin Luther King, Jr. Inspirational Breakfast, Luncheon and Day of Service. And going into February, we are announcing our new partnership with Cleveland Clinic at the Weston Y.
Sheryl A. Woods
President/CEO
YMCA OF SOUTH FLORIDA
With a focus on nurturing, educating and growing youth as such a large part of the work we do at the Y, we took the opportunity this year to include students from our youth programs in every aspect of our MLK Inspirational Weekend. We kicked it off with a reception that allowed our Y afterschool program students to engage with and ask questions of our speaker – Minnijean Brown-Trickey, who was one of the Little Rock Nine. The students were fabulous and so was she. Her poise and insight made for wonderful chairside chats at our breakfast and luncheon.
We impacted a lot of lives that weekend. We had nearly 800 community leaders attend the breakfast and luncheon events; and over 370 volunteers turn out for the Day of Service projects at Allapattah YMCA and L.A. Lee YMCAs. The weekend was a tremendous success!
On February 20, we look forward to celebrating our new partnership with Cleveland Clinic with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The Y and Cleveland Clinic have partnered to provide rehabilitation services to its patients and the Weston community through a Physical Therapy facility, located in the Weston YMCA, and health and wellness education programs. Through this partnership, we will work together to create a healthier and stronger community.
My vision for 2020 is to continue to make more impact on lives in South Florida and make our organization stronger. Our focus will be on raising the bar on everything we do – Y programs and services, fundraising, and sharing the good news of what we do with our community.
The year ahead will be filled with many great events, so let’s get ready for a great 2020 at the Y!
Making meaningful change in your community
Providing healthy living options for everyone in our community is what the YMCA does every day. And whether it’s in our afterschool programs, youth sports, group exercise class, swim lessons or teen leadership, the Y gives everyone the opportunity to reach their full potential and become healthier in spirit, mind and body.
New L.A. Lee YMCA construction underway
Construction on the L.A. Lee YMCA/Mizell Community Center is moving along. Since the groundbreaking in November, the first month was spent on grading and compacting. Now, the crew is working on building the foundation that will support the brand new Y. We’ll keep you updated as the project progresses. Take a look at the progress so far in our video.
save the date
CLEVELAND CLINIC REHABILITATION THERAPY CENTER AT WESTON YMCA
RIBBON CUTTING
10 AM Thursday, February 20
OPEN HOUSE
10 AM – 1 PM Saturday, February 22
Weston YMCA Family Center
20201 Saddle Club Road
Weston, FL 33327
THE WIZ 2.0, a YMCA Teen Broadway Production
5 PM February 29
Come and experience an evening of musical theatre presented by our local community youth thespians. Enjoy their Fort Lauderdale version of the well-known play The Wiz.
L.A. Lee YMCA Family Center
408 NW 14th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
Tickets: $15 In Advance | $20 At the Door
Contact: [email protected] or 954-467-2444
YMCA Young Professionals Love Your Community Networking Mixer
6 PM – 8 PM Feb 13
The Globe
377 Alhambra Circle
Coral Gables 33134
Donation: $25
https://www.facebook.com/YMCASOFLOYP/
Y in the News
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. INSPIRATIONAL WEEKEND
This year’s Breakfast and Day of Service received media coverage. There were 3 TV News Stations – WSVN 7, CBS 4 Miami and WPLG Local 10 – at the Inspirational Breakfast, and WSVN 7 sent 2 cameramen and a reporter to the L.A. Lee YMCA Family Center for the Day of Service.
Inspirational Breakfast
CBS 4 Miami
Inspirational Breakfast
WSVN 7
Day of Service
WSVN 7
