YMCA Celebrating 150 Years

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From Staff Reports

December 29th marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the YMCA in America, and you can watch how it all began on The History Channel. A documentary film titled "America's Haven: The YMCA at 150" was produced by YMCA of the USA and will air on the History Channel at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"The Corsicana YMCA is proud to share this "living' history book with The History Channel and the Navarro community," said Terry Seth, CEO. "Without the pioneering spirit of national YMCA heroes like Thomas Sullivan who founded the first YMCA; Luther Gulick who revolutionized physical fitness and led the way for James Naismith to invent basketball at the YMCA Training School; and Anthony Bowen, a former slave who founded the first YMCA to serve the African American community in 1853, the Corsicana YMCA might not exist."

Tune in to "America's Haven: The YMCA at 150" to see firsthand how YMCAs influenced America and how many heroic Americans have strong ties to the YMCA movement. The hour-long documentary features interviews with former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley and former Congressman, U.N. ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young - both longtime YMCA members.

It also details the YMCA's transformation from an evangelical group of young, urban Protestant men to a broad-based secular, community organization led, staffed by, and serving men, women, and children across all religious and social lines.

"America's Haven: The YMCA at 150" celebrates YMCA legacies including pioneering mass swimming instruction, teaching English as a second language, service in World War I trenches and World War II POW and Japanese-American detention camps, and the arrival in 1978 of a certain song that spread the Y s' story still further around the globe.

YMCAs have served in every one of the nation's struggles since the American Civil War and have received a Nobel Peace Prize as well as a subsequent nomination. Their everyday programs range from infant-parent water orientation to physical rehabilitation, minority mentoring, youth-in-government, job-skills training and anti-drug and gang intervention.

The Corsicana YMCA leads the Navarro community in coaching over 1,300 children in the sports program, teaching over 300 children how to swim and collaborating with V.O.I.C.E. to provide after school care to over 100 lower-income families.

"We're delighted that The History Channel TM has chosen the showcase the century and a half in which YMCAs grew with the American democracy," said Ken Gladish, Ph.D., national executive director of the YMCA of the USA. "It's a vivid portrayal of how YMCAs have influenced American history , as well as a preview of our plans to move forward into a new century , building strong kids, strong families and strong communities."

YMCA of the USA is the national resource office for America's 2,434 YMCAs.

The production of "America's Haven: The YMCA at 150" was generously funded by a grant from the Pepsi Cola Company, which has chosen YMCAs as a charity of choice.

The Corsicana YMCA serves over 3,000 children annually. The YMCA currently has over 3,500 members with 1 ,300 of those members being youth. Some of the programs we offer include youth sports, Day Camp, Kid's Club, swim lessons, World's Largest Run, Jingle Bell Jog, birthday parties, and fitness for adults and children. The mission of the YMCA is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. The YMCA will not turn anyone away based on their inability to pay.

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