The Y is committed to ensuring everyone can enjoy the Y and makes financial assistance available. We offer a great variety of programs and activities for youth and teens that help young people of all abilities grow in spirit, mind and body, and we work to strengthen community.

A program that I would like to highlight is our Summer Day Camp. Through generous donations we able to offer support to families that face financial challenges in finding affordable child care during the summer.

We have implemented our Go Green, Safety around water Program in Summer Day Camp. Go For Green focuses on Safety Around Water for all of our campers. Our great swim instructors are able to provide free swim instruction to campers in our Summer Day Camp. All kids who attend camp will take a swim test to determine their comfort level and swim skill in the water. If a child does not pass the swim test they will receive free swim instruction from our swim instructors over the course of the summer day camp program with the goal of developing and strengthening lifesaving swim skills.

Through the Y I had the opportunity to serve as a staff chaperone for our Teen International Trip to Belize in the summer of 2022. Teens from our Gateway Region YMCA and Belize City YMCA were able to connect and create lifelong friends while also learning about each other's cultures over the course of the international exchange.

A partnership for good: St. Louis + Belize YMCAs: https://youtu.be/d0n3DM__7DU?si=Abgmne0KIy_s_xFM