From the moment my family moved to Austin in 2013 to present day, the Greater Austin YMCA has been an essential component of my life.

Within months of being in Austin, I was registered for YMCA summer camps and the Extend-A-Care after-school programming at Spicewood. From there, my family became YMCA members, contributing annually to the Giving Campaign. The next year, I was enrolled in swim lessons at the Northwest branch YMCA, and when my nose erupted into a large nosebleed after a lesson, it was a Northwest lifeguard that taught me how to safely stop it. This skill would become essential throughout my youth as I would frequently get nosebleeds.

In 2024, I was hired as Member Experience Staff, and subsequently as Child Watch Staff at the Northwest YMCA, where I witness daily the investment in the children of our community, our health, and our neighbors through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. This manifests through assisting an expecting family search for child care at our new Tomorrow Academy locations to seniors playing pickleball, and many other ways. Regardless of how it manifests itself, the Y touches every phase of life and nurtures happier, healthier people, a stronger community and a better world.

Each year, the Y provides nearly $2.5M in financial assistance to make our memberships and programs accessible to everyone, regardless of their circumstances. This is made possible through the Annual Giving Campaign. Each year, hundreds of volunteers, staff, Y members, friends and family come together to help raise the critical funds necessary to ensure that the Y's life-changing programs continue to be available to ALL.

The Y is personally so important to me. I hope you'll join me in making a difference with a gift today.