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Y Member Tom Lowrie Adds to the Family Y’s Storied Past

Tuesday, August 7, 2012 by:Family Y
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Renowned Y "racquetman" Tom Lowrie.

Tom Lowrie, a familiar figure at our Family Y, has been a member since 1966. Tom served as the Y archivist starting in the 1980s, setting up an attic office and doing a huge amount of research about our members, boards and building history.

The fruits of his research resulted in a timeline exhibit, which was displayed at the Westport Historical Society to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Family Y in1988. Tom uncovered some interesting facts from his research:

  1. One week after our Y opened in 1923, there were already 447 members
  2. The cost of bowling that year was $.10; billiards cost $.30 an hour to play and towels were $.05 each
  3. Although women were not permitted to use the gym on Saturdays when the Y opened, Friday evenings were set aside for their use of the bowling alleys and the pool tables in the Boys department.
  4. In 1925, the Y, in conjunction with the Southern New England Telephone Company, offered instruction in the use of a new invention – the telephone!

Tom’s two children, Anne and David, were both Y kids who learned to swim in the pool, attended Camp Mahackeno and became CITs. Both worked part-time at the Member Services Desk and were active in the Y-sponsored Young People’s Leader’s Club. Anne is an artist and painted the wonderful marine murals in our Aquatics Center.

Tom was a member of our Board of Directors and a member of the Weeks Pavilion Building Committee in the 1970s. In his professional role as an architect, he designed Beck’s Lodge at camp and was also involved with the conversion of the fire house and the redesign of the locker rooms and Health Centers as well as helping to reconfigure our current Fitness Center and Studio.

A fierce badminton and table tennis competitor, Tom was instrumental in updating our equipment and bringing many new members to the group. Tom remains an active and involved member today. Thanks, Tom, for your many contributions and support!

As the Family Y prepares to begin a new chapter in our 90-year history, with the coming construction of a new Y facility at our Mahackeno campus, we’ll also be honoring our past. We hope to augment and update Tom’s voluminous research with new archival material, as well as the stories of our Y Members, gathered through photos, film and video and shared with members and the entire community.

If you have stories of your own to share, or photos of the Y and Camp Mahackeno, please contact Scott Smith, Communications Director, at 203-226-8981, ext. 112, or ssmith@westporty.org.

In the meantime, delve into these vintage photos of Camp Mahackeno’s early days…

Family Y Hiring More Local Youth to Serve as Counselors at Camp Mahackeno

Thursday, July 5, 2012 by:Family Y
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The Westport Weston Family Y is still accepting applications for counselors to join its summer staff at Camp Mahackeno. The summer day camp, located at the Family Y’s 32-acre Mahackeno Outdoor Center along the Saugatuck River in Westport, welcomed its first campers June 25 for the first of four two-week sessions, to be followed by a season-ending Special Events week Aug. 20-24.

“We were projecting slightly higher enrollment this summer from last year and staffed appropriately, but are happy to report that registration of new campers has stayed strong over the past couple of weeks,” said Meaghan George, Camp and Youth Director. “Families finalize their summer plans later and later each year, and we’re glad that they are choosing to have their children spend at least part of the summer with us.”

A Westport summer tradition since the early 1940s, Camp Mahackeno employs about 55 local youth and adults each summer as counselors, guards, specialists and maintenance staff. An additional 25 to 30 youth find summer jobs at the downtown Y, working as counselors and aides for the Hafaday Swim Lesson Program and other summer camps.

Though many Mahackeno counselors are former campers or returning staff members, the Family Y hires and trains a number of new counselors each season. Requirements are that candidates be 18 or older and have experience with children. Applications may be submitted to Meaghan George at the Y’s downtown facility or via email, mgeorge@westporty.org.

As part of the YMCA of the USA’s focus on strengthening community through youth development, Ys throughout the country are participating in the White House Summer Jobs+ Initiative. The initiative is a call to action for American businesses, nonprofits and government to provide youth with pathways to employment.

According to a recent report by the White House Council for Community Solutions, the recession has had a particularly hard impact on youth employment, as at least one in six people ages 16 to 24 is unemployed. The U.S. Labor Dept. reports that 48.8 percent of youth between the ages of 16-24 were employed in July 2011, the month when youth employment usually peaks. That was significantly lower than the 59.2 percent of youth who were employed five years ago and 63.3 percent of youth who were employed 10 years ago.

“The Family Y has been a leader in providing youth with summer employment and internship opportunities for generations,” says Rob Reeves, Family Y CEO. “This summer the Family Y will once again provide local youth an enriching, meaningful learning experience that not only helps them develop character and job skills but a path to future employment.”

With some 250 full- and part-time employees, the Family Y is one of the area’s largest employers. Through its Lifeguard Training courses, conducted in partnership with the American Red Cross, the Family Y also enables dozens of teens and young adults to become certified lifeguards each year. The Family Y employs about a third of these lifeguards; many of the rest are hired by the Town of Westport and private clubs around Fairfield County.  The Family Y also participates in internship programs sponsored by Staples High School, welcoming a number of graduating seniors each spring.

To learn more about job opportunities, programs and activities at the Family Y, call 203-226-8981 or visit westporty.org.

Family Y Receives $5,000 Grant from First County Bank for Child Care Scholarships

Wednesday, July 4, 2012 by:Family Y
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RoseMary Ogden, of First County Bank, David Cohen, Vice President of Operations for the Family Y, Tasha Dennison, Senior Director of the Y’s Early Learning Programs, Richard Zaremski, FCB Senior Vice President, and Rob Reeves, Family Y CEO.

The Westport Weston Family Y has received a $5,000 grant from First County Bank Foundation, the charitable arm of the Stamford-based full-service bank. The grant will be used to help fund scholarships for the Family Y’s Early Learning Program, a child care program providing full-time and part-time services for local families from all walks of life.

“We’re thrilled to have this vital support from our friends at First County Bank,” said Rob Reeves, Family Y CEO. “This grant will benefit single moms and under-employed families in our community who are struggling financially and cannot afford child care for their young children.”

This year the Family Y will give out over $120,000 in financial assistance to 20 families involved in our Early Learning Program, the area’s largest provider of child-care services, accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

“First County Bank is always looking for ways to give back to the community we call home, and we’re delighted to be able to help the Family Y provide such vital services to local families,” said Richard Zaremski, Senior Vice President.

First County is also a new sponsor of the Family Y’s 34th Annual Point-to-Point Compo Beach Swim. The 1-mile open water swim takes place Sunday, July 15, and includes a Kids’ Swim for young participants. All proceeds benefit the Family Y’s Strong Kids Campaign, which funds additional scholarships for the Early Learning Program and other Y programs and activities. “We’re proud that the men and women who work for us also give their time and talents to support partners like the Family Y and the shared causes that mean so much to our customers,” Zaremski said.

Established in 2001 in honor of the bank’s 150th anniversary, the First County Bank Foundation was created to distribute funds annually to nonprofit organizations that support community and economic development for children and families. As a mutual bank with no shareholders, First County Bank considers contributions made by the foundation a means of paying dividends back to the local communities it serves. In 2012 the First County Bank Foundation will award more than $600,000 to nonprofit organizations throughout lower Fairfield County. Since its inception in 2001, total Foundation giving exceeds $5 million.

First County Bank, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., for more than 160 years, is an independent mutual community bank with 15 branches in Stamford, Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk and Westport offering deposit products, mortgages, trust and investment services, business banking services and online banking. First County Bank has more than 220 employees and assets in excess of $1.3 billion. For additional information, please visit www.firstcountybank.com.

The Westport Weston Family Y has been a vital provider of services, programs and opportunities for our community for nearly a century. Many of our programs and services have no membership requirement, which enables the Family Y to serve the community with a much broader reach. In 2011, we provided $308,000 in direct aid to nearly 300 families in our community in the form of free or subsidized memberships or programs. Additionally, the Y provided $166,000 in support to dozens of local organizations that we work with in service to our community.

For more information about the Family Y’s Early Learning Program, please click here.

New Rain Garden at Mahackeno to Honor Rosemary Halstead

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 by:Family Y
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Rosemary Halstead (center) with fellow Y leaders Bonnie Strittmatter and Iain Bruce.

The Westport Weston Family Y’s Annual Meeting of the Association was held Monday, June 18, at 5:30 pm in the Bedford Room. Y volunteers, staff and members gathered to recognize outgoing Board Members for their service and to welcome new volunteers coming on to the governing Boards of Directors and Trustees. The Annual Meeting is also the occasion for bestowing our annual service awards from Outstanding Youth to Volunteer of the Year.

Receiving special recognition was former Board President Rosemary Halstead. As a passionate advocate and champion of our Family Y for more than 23 years, Rosemary has set the highest standards of volunteerism, determination and leadership. Board President from 2003 to 2007, Rosemary continued her volunteer commitment as Member-at-Large and Ex-Officio Board Member. Going forward she will serve as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Her fellow Y leaders Bonnie Strittmatter and Iain Bruce presented Rosemary with a special tribute as they announced the creation of the Rosemary Halstead Rain Garden at Mahackeno.

New Family Y Board Members Diana Coyne, Megan Loffredo and Elise Gabriele

This colorful centerpiece of the landscape design for our new Family Y will feature a wide array of beautiful plantings highlighted in Rosemary’s honor by the Purple Dome Aster.  “Much like our dear friend Rosemary, this perennial is easily recognized by its abundance of royal purple, its firmly planted roots, its ease of care and its love of the sun,” said the poster announcing plans for the garden. “Each growing season, the rain garden will burst with the color purple, bringing joyful greetings to the thousands of children and families who will call our new Y home.”

This year’s Annual Meeting — the 88th — was especially significant in other ways, as it marks a period of transformative change for our Family Y. Less than a month ago, our governing Boards of Directors and Trustees voted unanimously to proceed with plans to begin construction of Phase I of the new Y facility at Mahackeno by the end of this year.

Our 2011 honorees include:

Jessica Guo, receiving the annual Lynne A. Warren YMCA Community Service award from Sally Silverstein, Senior Director of Sports & Recreation.

Lynne A. Warren YMCA Community Service Award

  • Jessica Guo

Edward T. Bedford Outstanding Youth

  • Madeline Melnick
  • Gabrielle Wimer

Paul I. Becker Employee of the Year

  • Michael Friedman

Lee J. Edelstein Volunteer of the Year

  • Steven Halstead

In addition, we will be recognizing and thanking the following board members for their service:

Robert H. Allen
Board of Trustees, 2006-2012
Board of Directors, 1996-2002

Steven L. Ezzes
Board of Trustees, 2005-2012

Jennifer Gabler
Board of Directors, 2005-2012

Trustee Chair Jim Marpe, honoring Ted Hampe for his service as a Y Trustee from 1998 to 2012.

William Galle
High School Advisory Member
Board of Directors, 2010-2012

Rosemary Halstead
Board of Directors, 2001-2012

H.T. (Ted) Hampe
Board of Trustees, 1998-2012

Lisa K. Krakoff
Board of Directors, 2007-2012

Sue M. Nadel
Board of Directors, 2009-2012

David B. Rosenthal
Board of Directors, 2009-2012

Ronald Wimer
Board of Directors, 2007-2012


Find Ways to Improve Your Community During National Volunteer Week, April 15-21

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 by:Family Y
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Family Y Aquatic Director Nicole Turechek with Staples Key Club members Khaliq Sana and Jessica Shaw, student volunteers at the January 2012 Youth Fun Night.

The Westport Weston Family Y will recognize and celebrate April 15-21 as 2012 National Volunteer Week – a time to honor individuals who dedicate themselves to helping strengthen their communities. As the Family Y joins the nation in saluting those who volunteer, it also encourages everyone to find ways to give back and make a difference.
“Volunteering and giving back are critical to helping more individuals and communities be healthy, connected and secure,” said Rob Reeves, Family Y CEO. “At the Family Y, volunteers help drive our cause of strengthening community by nurturing the potential of youth, improving the nation’s health and well-being and supporting our neighbors. The programs and services we offer to men, women and children of all ages are made possible in large part by volunteers who donate their time and talents.”
The Y, one of the leading nonprofits and volunteer organizations in the country, offers individuals and families opportunities to volunteer in ways that let them connect and develop meaningful relationships, all while making an impact in communities they care about.
Family Y volunteers give their time, talent and heart to help our Family Y serve the community. In 2011, 174 volunteers contributed a total of 7,805 volunteer hours. Volunteers serving the Family Y’s Water Rat Swim Team were 139 strong and logged 4,533 hours on their own. In all, that’s 514 days of giving 24/7 to our community.
The Family Y also creates opportunities for volunteers from local schools and other organizations to contribute in ways that best match their skills and causes they support. Students from Staples High School’s Key Club are valued role models and mentors at the Family Y’s monthly Youth Fun Nights for 4th-7th graders. We’re also pleased to partner with Staples student Tyler Marks as he helps lead the Soles4Souls shoe-collection drive at the Family Y, Apr. 23-27.

Eileen Flug, deputy moderator of the Westport RTM, is one of our community's most active and effective volunteers. Here she volunteers her green thumb at the planting of the Y's new teaching garden at Camp Mahackeno last spring.

Volunteers are welcome to join Family Y staffers, Y members and other community supporters for a morning of light outdoor work at Camp Mahackeno on Saturday, May 12, 8 a.m. to 12 noon as we prepare for another season of summer day camp for local children. Refreshments will be served. Young volunteers are encouraged to join us, though we ask that children under 16 be accompanied by an adult. Please use our Sunny Lane entrance, off Route 33, past the Red Barn restaurant.
Many more opportunities exist for others of all ages to help make a difference. We have the database, you supply info and interests, and we’ll match you up with volunteer opportunities around the Y. One-shot volunteer, or long term commitment – you tell us!
National Volunteer Week is a great time to get involved. Here are five ways individuals can take an active role at the Y and in their community:
  1. Join a special committee that matches your skills or interests.
  2. Coach a sports team, teach a class or ask about other ways to get involved with a program of your interest.
  3. Help with fundraising efforts to ensure that essential programs and services are accessible to everyone in need.
  4. Get involved with a mentoring or tutoring program to help motivate and encourage youth to reach their potential.
  5. Inspire others to find ways they too can give back to the community.
Each year, more than half a million people volunteer their time to the Y of the USA. Whether developing skills or emotional well-being through education and training, welcoming and connecting diverse demographic populations through global services, or preventing chronic disease and building healthier communities through collaborations with policy makers, the Y fosters the care and respect all people deserve.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the Westport Weston Family Y, contact Meaghan George, Camp and Youth Director; mgeorge@westporty.org or 203-226-8981, ext. 179.

Patty Kondub & Co. Spin for the Cause

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by:Family Y
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The Family Y's SpinOdyssey 2012 team poses around Patty Kondub, center behind sign. Photo Courtesy of Pamela Einarsen.

The Family Y”s own Patty Kondub, chief organizer of the yearly breast cancer fundraiser, “SpinOdyssey,” pulled off another beautifully organized event on March 4 at Intensity in Norwalk.

An event this large requires a huge volunteer effort and over 150 volunteers manned every job from contacting the sponsors, unloading and loading 210 Spin bikes, setting them up, making repairs on the spot, cleaning them before and after use, numbering all the bikes and aisles, stuffing the goodie bags, scheduling leaders for all sessions including Zumba, Yoga, Body Pump and Tennis and keeping everyone on track for the big day.

There are few glitches due to Patty’s experience and organizational skills and the tireless efforts of SpinOdyssey’s committed volunteer team. SpinOdyssey 2012 raised over $311,000 as of Sunday, March 4, and another $15,000-plus was raised from the SpinOdyssey store and silent auction organized by Family Y fitness instructors, Shelly Goldman and Judy Samuels.

With the most members participating, the Family Y Team was No. 1 in Team Spirit  and the No. 2 fundraising group this year, with $43,935 raised.  Family Y Board member Iain Bruce, was the No. 2 individual fundraiser with $16,800 raised.  Hats off to you, Patty, Shelly, Judy and Iain and to all of our tireless Y team and supporters who gave their time and their all to support this worthwhile cause!

How Best to Celebrate ‘Thank Your Mentor Day’ on Jan. 26

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by:Family Y
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Rob Reeves and Allen Raymond at the recent celebration of Raymond's 89th birthday.

As a highlight of National Mentoring Month 2012, Thank Your Mentor Day will be celebrated on Thursday, January 26. On that day, many Americans will reach out to thank or honor those individuals who encouraged and guided them, and had a lasting, positive impact on their lives.

Spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR and the Corporation for National and Community Service and supported by the YMCA of the USA, this year’s campaign tagline is Invest in the Future. Mentor a Child.

Mentors, backed by quality mentoring programs, play a powerful role in preventing substance abuse and youth violence, as well as boosting academic achievement and workforce readiness. Studies have shown a more than 250 percent return on a $1 investment in mentoring and a myriad of quality of life benefits to the mentor, too. Mentors help build young people’s character and confidence, expand their universe and help them navigate pathways to successful adulthood.

“National Mentoring Month gives the mentoring field an opportunity to collectively celebrate the proven impact of quality programs and the impactful service of mentors nationwide while also sounding the call to grow the movement through increased volunteerism and financial investment ,” said MENTOR’s President and CEO David Shapiro.

Though the focus of National Mentoring Month is in preparing our nation’s youth for a bright future, Thank Your Mentor Day allows us to celebrate the contributions of all those who cultivate a supportive environment for the next generation — regardless of age.

Family Y CEO Rob Reeves was fortunate to have the opportunity to personally thank one of his mentors this past weekend, when he joined other community leaders in celebrating Allen Raymond’s 89th birthday.

Reeves credited Raymond with “getting me up to speed quickly” when Reeves took over as the Y’s CEO in late 2009, he told local columnist Dan Woog at the celebration. In addition to his service to a host of local charitable organizations, Raymond was Y President from 1962-’64.

“Allen told me a lot about the history of Westport, and the Y,” Reeves was quoted in the “06880″ blog account. “He brought me around, and introduced me to people the Y has been important to. He was such an important connection.”

Thank Your Mentor Day promotes “Four Ways to Honor Your Mentor”:

  1. Contact your mentor directly to express your appreciation;
  2. Pass on what you received by becoming a mentor to a young person in your community;
  3. Make a financial contribution to a local mentoring program; and,
  4. Write a tribute to your mentor for posting on the “Who Mentored You?” website.

You can download a Thank you card from the Campaign Marketing Materials page.

The Westport Weston Family Y has an array of local volunteer opportunities from which to choose, from a one-shot duty at a special Y event, or a longer-term commitment to mentor local youth. To discuss a volunteer role that’s right for you, contact David Cohen, Vice President of Operations, at 203-226-8981 or dcohen@westporty.org.

Family Y to Rename Road to Mahackeno “Allen Raymond Lane”

Monday, January 23, 2012 by:Family Y
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Allen Raymond poses with the sign that will lead to the Family Y's Mahackeno Outdoor Center and future home of the new Y facility.

The Westport Weston Family Y will rename the private access road to its Mahackeno Outdoor Center — longtime home of its summer day camp and site of the planned new Family Y facility — “Allen Raymond Lane” in honor of the former Y President, Trustee Emeritus and longtime civic leader.

The announcement came at a party celebrating Raymond’s 89th birthday, held at the home of Bonnie and Bill Strittmatter. Bonnie Strittmatter serves as president of the Family Y’s volunteer board of directors.

“We’re honored to be able to give something back to him, in some small way, for all he’s done for the Y, and for Westport,” said Rob Reeves, Family Y CEO at the gathering, which was attended by dozens of Raymond’s longtime friends and neighbors and fellow Y board members, as well as four of his five children and numerous grandchildren.

(Attending the celebration was longtime Y member and noted local columnist Dan Woog, who filed this account  on the “0688o” blog. )

In addition to his nearly 60 years of service and leadership on behalf of the Family Y, Raymond has been active in innumerable civic issues and institutions. In 1960, as a member of First Selectman Herb Baldwin’s “kitchen cabinet,” it was Raymond who spearheaded the town’s purchase of Longshore Beach and Country Club, now Longshore Club Park. A former publishing executive and founder of an education magazine for elementary school teachers, Raymond has also devoted countless hours on behalf of the Westport Public Library, Earthplace, Westport Historical Society, Greens Farms Congregational Church, Westport Rotary and the local GOP, among other organizations. He now serves as Town Historian for Westport.

Born in upstate New York, Raymond first came to Westport as a young boy, when his parents bought a summer home on Mill Cove. As he is fond of saying, after those halcyon summers, Raymond never wanted to live anywhere else. He moved full-time to Westport in the late 1940s, with his late wife Barbara; he continues to split his year between the summer home and the house in town where he and Barbara raised their five children.

Allen Raymond, in a photo from the early 1960s; Allen served as Y President from 1962-64, in addition to being active with a host of other civic issues and organizations.

“The Family Y and I were born in the same year, 1923, and I became involved with the Y in the mid-1950s, when the first of Barbara’s and my five children was old enough to take part in what the Y offers,” Raymond has noted of his Y connection. “In those days I was young and eager; I began raising money for the Y, and the rest is history – president of the Y’s Board in 1962-‘64, member of the Board of Trustees for many years and now Trustee Emeritus. Life doesn’t get any better than that.”

A staunch supporter of the Family Y’s long-planned move from its outmoded home downtown to a new Y facility at its 32-acre Mahackeno Outdoor Center, Raymond has said, “Located overlooking a delight rustic summer camp, with vistas of the beautiful Lee’s Pond beyond, this lovely building on the Y’s campus will be a dream come true.”

Jim Marpe, Chair of the Family Y’s Board of Trustees, said in presenting Raymond with a facsimile of the street sign at his birthday celebration: “For the past 88 years, these two ‘local institutions’ have remained steadfast in their commitment and dedication to our community and its residents. Allen truly embodies the heart and soul of Westport and the Family Y.”

First proposed in 1998, the new Y facility at Mahackeno is a 102,000 sq. ft. building designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The Family Y’s volunteer boards of directors and trustees spent the better part of the past decade receiving all the necessary permits and approvals for the new facility, as well as in successfully overcoming legal challenges. The final phase of the capital campaign, known as “Building What Matters,” was formally launched in May, 2011.

Following a successful fundraising campaign, Family Y officials are scheduled to break ground on the new Y facility in September and to open in late 2014.

For information about Building What Matters, please visit www.westporty.org. To discuss making a financial contribution, including one in honor of Allen Raymond, or to become involved in the campaign for a new Y, please contact Rob Reeves at 203-226-8981, ext. 131 or rreeves@westporty.org.

Here is a photo gallery with images from Allen’s 89th birthday celebration:

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