The 11th annual Festival of Trees will take place on Dec. 1 at TowneBank.
This fundraiser includes heavy hors d’oeuvres from local caterers, music, and silent and live auctions. Proceeds from the Festival of Trees benefit the Strong Communities Campaign. This year’s goal is to raise $50,000 for the campaign, which funds the Y’s Guardian Program. The Guardian Program helps the Y provide a wide range of programs and activities for children and families within our local community who could not otherwise afford them.
All YMCA programming is designed with a purpose. In addition to recreation and physical exercise, participants experience character development through activities which foster caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. By emphasizing collaborative team-building, problem solving, and the intrinsic value of each person, the YMCA cultivates participants’ personal growth and healthy self-esteem. The YMCA’s goals are to nurture people and the community through building healthy spirit, mind, and body.
The Guardian Program is really at the heart of what the local YMCA is all about, according to a press release about the Festival of Trees. “Scholarships go directly to those who stand to benefit the most from the YMCA experience,” according to the release. “The children of our community need the Y and we all need to help those who may be the least able to pay.”
The event will take place at 6:30p.m. on Dec. 1 at Towne Bank. Tickets may be purchased online or at the Y. The cost is $60 per person. For questions, or more event information, call 229-9622, or email [email protected]. Child care will be provided at the YMCA, provided you register in advance for the service.
To find out more about the R.F. Wilkinson Family YMCA, like us on Facebook, or visit the YMCA website.
What can my gift do?
- $2500 helps a single parent family afford preschool child care for six months
- $1500 gives ten children a complete Bright Beginnings experience (shopping with a volunteer for school clothes, shoes, coat, and backpack of supplies)
- $1000 provides a child with a summer of day camp fun
- $500 strengthens a family with six months of membership
- $400 provides one child a week at Camp Kekoka – YMCA residence camp
- $250 supports one child the year-long experience at the Y’s Dance Academy
- $150 enrolls a brother and sister into the Teen Leaders’ Club.
- $100 provides one child with one week of quality before and after school child care
- $50 raises a child’s self-esteem through participation in a youth sport
- $25 protects a child from drowning by giving them a session of swim lessons
