YOUR Y SUPPORTS OUR COMMUNITY
When AmeriCorps volunteers arrived in late April in Eugene from all over the country, your Y offered discounted membership for warm showers and workout spaces.
“We are so proud to support them during their 6-week stint in Eugene,” says CEO Brian Steffen.
The volunteers, called Gold 2, are part of a team of ten individuals from ages 18 to 25, enrolled in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps program. NCCC is a fulltime, residential, team-based program for young adults, whose members develop leadership skills and strengthen communities by completing service projects and gaining life experience.
NCCC members are working with Northwest Youth Corps where they will address hunger by growing food for FOOD For Lane County at the two-acre Laurel Valley Educational Farm, on the Northwest Youth Corps campus. Members will also help improve academic engagement and performance at Twin Rivers Charter School and help preserve natural habitats through planting or caring for trees by Lane County’s Biocycle Farm.
Your Y also supports newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers by giving them a 3-month free membership. This outreach helps them get acquainted with people in their new community, build support systems and develop long-lasting relationships.
“Your Y will always provide a welcoming place to anyone seeking a new community,” Steffen says. “There is strength in diversity and we see it everyday inside the walls of our Y. It makes perfect sense to open our arms to new immigrants seeking home.”
