Saratoga Regional YMCA kicks off Annual Campaign in Malta; Hopes to raise $400,000 (with video)

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MALTA — The Saratoga Regional YMCA launched its 2023 Annual Campaign Monday in the hopes of raising $400,000.

Saratoga Regional YMCA leaders and community members met at the Malta YMCA Monday morning to kick off the campaign, which helps local residents participate in programs they might not otherwise be able to afford. The organization covers all of Saratoga County.

“Our Annual Campaign are dollars that we raise each year to help us underwrite our comprehensive youth programs, provide childcare assistance, summer camp and membership,” said Scott Clark, CEO of the Saratoga Regional YMCA. “You know, we’re in this beautiful facility in 2018, we had an opportunity to partner with the Saratoga Regional Hospital, to come together to build this incredible facility now that we’ve been here five years.”

Launching the Annual Campaign at the Early Learning Center at the Malta YMCA was a fitting choice of a location, Clark said. The YMCA’s childcare program served over 1,500 children in 2022, and is seeing about 700 children a day between the before school and afterschool programs, the early learning program and the universal Pre-K program.

@dgazette Saratoga Regional YMCA kicks off Annual Campaign in Malta; Hopes to raise $400k – 3/13/23 – More at DailyGazette.com – Daily Gazette

“Childcare is an essential part of what is needed every day for parents to be able to work,” Clark said. “But also, to develop these kids so that they can grow, learn and thrive as they move on to kindergarten and beyond.”

Clark announced that over $60,000 toward this year’s Annual Campaign goal of $400,000 has been donated so far from the board of directors and the association’s staff.

“We kick off the campaign today, we’re very, very fortunate to have staff and our volunteers, and our board of directors,” Clark said.

A group of about 20 YMCA preschool students helped to kick off the campaign by singing, “You’ve got a Friend in me.”

“What a fitting song,” Clark said. “Because, the Y really provides that opportunity for friendships. One thing that we really learned during COVID, was the ability and what people were facing every day dealing with social isolation, and the ability to come together to make friends and spend time together is really a little bit about what the Y is about every single day.”

The Annual Campaign raised $650,000 in 2022 to help those in need of financial assistance be able to participate in health and wellness programs, make it possible for families to enroll their children in summer camp or in youth sports programs, and receive assistance with childcare and before and afterschool care and more, said Saratoga Regional YMCA Board of Directors member Ally Meyers.

Meyers thanked everyone who had been involved in and donated to last year’s annual campaign. The $650,000 in financial assistance helped 2,300 community members who needed it most, she said.

“This is why the Y is here, this is why they’re here in the community,” Meyers said. “And, it’s this campaign that makes it possible for us to provide these programs to everybody in the community, regardless of their ability to pay.”

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