Dear YMCA friends,
A very happy YMCA birthday to all of you!
Saturday’s YMCA World Challenge was a wonderful event, celebrated all over the world with many thousands of happy, smiling participants. This was the YMCA at its best: volunteers, staff, all ages and all celebrating young people together.
The Guinness World Record attempt took place in 35 different locations, all at the same time. We have to wait and see if we broke the Record.
I have been following the photos and the stories on our Facebook page.
How can I possibly mention everyone who participated? I can’t! There are too many good stories to share, but I will share a brief few highlights:
– Board members who made the World Challenge an agenda item to stop and kick goals during their board meeting! What a great way to focus on young people amidst our business time.
– A football competition among 8 tribal languages in one community. What a wonderful way to bring community together.
– One event that shared the history of the YMCA and their local YMCA before a free training event and then a friendly match. “We hope we can continue to join this meaningful event in the coming years!” they shared.
– A football match with a team of blind footballers
– A flashmob in the main street.
– A forest clean up to support the environment before kicking goals.
I could go on and on … and I will! I will continue to share stories of how amazing the world’s YMCAs are when they come together. Kicking goals for empowering young people may have been the theme of our birthday, but it is also the theme we all take into the world every day of the year as well.
Thank you and well done!
Johan
More photos on our Facebook page and on our Flickr photo Stream