Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504110104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Years ago, the YMCA was Al Holland's safe haven. It took him off the streets, taught him some discipline, showed him that his abilities had no limits.
"I remember, after school I'd change clothes and go to the Y and stay there until my mother got off her second job and picked us up - about 8:30 or 9:00 at night," said Holland, 42, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who's an instructor and counselor at Roanoke's Alternative Education Center. "My brother and I were always the last ones to leave.
"Those doors would never close. Those doors stayed open."
Little about the YMCA has changed over the years, Holland said.
"It still has the same values, the same morals," he said. "And it still offers the same things it did for me."
But young people - faced with pressures that differ from those of Holland's youth - have changed, he said.
"They need to learn what it means to be a kid, and stop trying to be an adult before their time," Holland said.
For several years, the YMCA of Roanoke Valley has tried to meet the complex needs of young people through its youth programs, but demand now exceeds what the YMCA can afford to offer.
The Y is turning to the community for help.
Monday, the YMCA began a campaign to raise $75,000 to bring more young people into its youth programs by helping families who cannot afford program fees. The programs serve more than 1,000 children and teens in the Roanoke Valley, half the number that could be served, YMCA administrators estimate.
"There are still many neighborhoods where it's not safe for our young people to play," W. Lee Wilhelm III, YMCA board president, said at a news conference. "We have a lot of children who live in one-parent households, some who work two jobs just to make ends meet. They come home from school, and there's nobody to meet them. They go out in the neighborhoods, and they're exposed to drugs on the street.
"They need a place where they can come to learn, to be nurtured, to have fun and to be exposed to positive role models."
Called "Winners for Life," the campaign is the YMCA's first formal fund-raising effort. Teams of 101 volunteers will be soliciting contributions over the next four weeks.
"The campaign is important in that it's going to be addressing some of the problems that youth in our community are facing," said H. Clarke "Duke" Curtis, a campaign division leader. "These programs affect the daily problems in our youth - from teen pregnancy to drugs to delinquency. If our kids are involved in these programs, they won't have time for these things."
The YMCA's youth programs include:
The Drop-In program, after-school enrichment that serves 100 boys and girls who live in Roanoke's public housing communities.
The Youth Sports program, building self-esteem through participating in sports.
The Magic Place School Age Child Care program, licensed before-school and after-school child care operating in 13 elementary schools in Roanoke and Salem.
The Magic Place Summer Day Camps, an extension of the Magic Place that operates during the summer months.
Swimming lessons.
Youth memberships, an opportunity for young people 6-16 to join the YMCA and take advantage of its programs and facilities.
Contributions help the YMCA - a private, nonprofit organization - serve youth and families. Many of those services are free or, when fees are charged, subsidized by the YMCA through scholarships or fee reductions.
For more information or to make a donation to the "Winners for Life" campaign, call 342-YMCA or write "Partners of Youth," YMCA, 425 Church Ave. S.W., Roanoke 24016.
by CNB