Dupont ymca hours

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA21) - Area YMCA members are learning about reopening plans for the multipurpose facilities in and around Fort Wayne.

In an email, "The Y" said it will resume four child care programs -- operating at Jorgensen, Parkview, Renaissance Pointe and Whitley County -- on Monday, May 11.

On May 26, general activities will resume at its buildings in Allen, Whitley and Wells counties.

Officials said restrictions will be in effect to ensure social distancing, and not all activities will be immediately available.

Contact sports, such as basketball, racquetball and volleyball, will not take place in an "open play" form. The email indicates "staff-led activities" will happen in those areas.

YMCA pools will open with capacity limits enacted. Workout areas will be open, but with limitations on equipment use and extra attention to sanitation.

The YMCA had suspended billing during its shut-down. Those who make monthly payments will see them resume, with mid-May payments processing on June 1, instead.

MORE INFORMATION: YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne COVID-19 page

This year, the MetroWest YMCA updated its lessons to increase the accessibility and enjoyment of swimming to all ages and skill levels. The latest evolution of Y Swim Lessons accommodates varying abilities to help foster a sense of achievement as swimmers' progress between levels.  Through this latest approach to swim lessons, kids of all ages can progress at their own pace while building the confidence needed to become a successful swimmer. 

Y Swim Lessons have been re-organized into three new categories: 

• Swim Starters develops water enrichment and aquatic readiness in children ages 6 months to 3 years. This category focuses on developing swim readiness skills through fun and confidence-building experiences. Parents also learn how to supervise children in the water, how to prevent accidents and how to plan for emergencies.

• Swim Basics develops personal water safety and basic swimming skills in students of all ages. Swimmers develop a high level of comfort in the water by practicing safe water habits, engaging in underwater exploration, and learning how to swim to safety and exit if they fall into a body of water.
• Swim Strokes introduces and refines stroke technique in older students (school age, teens and adults). Having mastered the fundamentals, students learn additional water safety skills and build stroke technique, developing skills that prevent chronic disease, increase social-emotional and cognitive well-being and foster a lifetime of physical activity.

Registration for Swim Lessons is going on now.  Should you have a question as to which level you should sign yourself or your child up for, please view the new Swim Lesson Selector Chart (pictured below) or schedule a Swim Evaluation at the Member Service Desk.  Swim evaluations are held on Saturdays from 2:00-2:15pm.

We look forward to teaching you and your children a valuable life saving skill...the skill of swimming.

Sincerely, 

Jean Hear, Aquatics Director
and

Katie DuPont, Framingham Branch Associate Executive Director

Budding gardener Destiny Gonzales is only 10, but she has helped grow kale, spring lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, squash, okra and flowers.

Destiny can spot rich soil. She knows how to plant seeds a certain distance from each other to give them room to grow. She knows when to water and harvest them. And she knows what to do with the harvest because her favorite thing to eat is salad.

"I'm a health nut," she said. "My mother said when I was 2 I started eating fruits and vegetables."

Destiny, who just finished fourth grade, learned the tools and tricks of the gardening trade over the past year in the after-school program she attends at the duPont YMCA Youth Development Campus in Jacksonville's San Jose area. AmeriCorps worker Katherine Cox, who is on staff at the duPont Y, developed a healthy food curriculum for students that included growing a garden on campus and distributing the harvest to neighborhood families through a lottery system.

As many as 100 youth got involved at one time or another. Gardener-in-training Destiny was so enthusiastic that she became a "role model" for other students, spreading her newfound knowledge, Cox said.

"Kids are able to share with other kids and their families. It's important people learn how to grow their own food," she said.

Such self-sustainability is particularly key for people who live in food deserts, which are urban areas where there is little or no easy access to affordable or quality fresh food. There are multiple food deserts in Jacksonville, including spots near the duPont Y, she said.

The curriculum grew out of a regional initiative between YMCA of Florida's First Coast and Atlantic Beach Urban Farms called SEEDifferently. Vertical "aeroponic growing systems" were placed at all First Coast Y branches to promote urban agriculture.

At the duPont Y, Cox was placed in charge of using the 6-foot-tall growing tower to show youth and families how to grow food in small spaces. She had no gardening experience and was "terrified" she would break the tower or generally fail in her assignment, she said.

But she got help from Atlantic Beach Urban Farms, the Duval County Cooperative Extension Office and the National Health Corps and did her own research. She not only learned about vertical growing systems and gardening in general, but food deserts and health disparities, particularly in Jacksonville.

She said she was "inspired to … create health sustainability by creating a curriculum that taught children more than just how to grow their own food. They also learned about building community, celebrating diversity teamwork and responsibility."

Cox formed a gardening club at the duPont Y. She and the youth members maintained the garden tower, where kale, spring lettuce and other salad fixings grew. Also, they planted additional fruit and vegetable beds in an adjacent narrow stretch of dirt, which became home to tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, squash, okra and flowers.

Also, she created a harvest lottery system, including a bilingual ticket. Every three to four weeks, a winning family received free produce. About 20 families in the duPont area received food.

As word spread about Cox's success, other Y branches and schools asked her for help with their tower garden programs. She is relocating to Oregon at the end of July, but said she hopes the curriculum will continue to spread.

"I really want it to keep going," she said. "There is so much potential."

Destiny is already doing her part, dispersing gardening and healthy eating tips to friends and family alike.

"I like having nature around us," she said. "It's the only way that I could survive."

Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109

TO LEARN MORE

� Sara Glenn, YMCA of Florida's First Coast, director of strategic development of healthy living innovations

(904) 265-1804, [email protected]

� Atlantic Beach Urban Farms

(844) 937-4769, atlanticbeachurbanfarms.com