 Jennifer Reardon Foundation. Jennifer Reardon is my sister-in-law and we have continued to honor her spirit in many different ways of kindness as well as her mantra for being kind, loving, caring and sharing really to a to a great level because of the support of people like Doug Bishop who is here with me today and I'll introduce in a minute but just really the way that the and not even the community but the world has embraced the tragedy that our family had gone through and really has focused in on trying to make the world a better place and it is just incredible when I look at all of the different aspects of kindness I mean it enters into every single industry and every single community in different ways and if there's a good message here it's the fact that all of these communities can come together and share all the good instead of always having you know terrible news that we do have to face unfortunately on a daily basis but this is a great way to to really be able to live life and and feel good about what you can do for somebody else and then makes you feel good so anyway my pleasure here today to introduce everybody to you Doug Bishop and it is my pleasure Doug is the senior director of healthy living and communications at the Greater Burlington Y the beautiful new Greater Burlington YMCA but Doug and I had the pleasure of working together back in the good old days at the original location over there on 266 and you moved on up and it's just a fabulous facility with all of the same core values in place that resonates I you know I used to do some driving for Uber and I still do on occasion when I have a chance I just love it and I'll drop people off at the Y and we just have the greatest stories of things that have impacted them from their visits to the Y some are coming in from out of state just once a month type of thing but I want to obviously introduce you thank you so much for being here and for all of the the fabulous work that you do Doug I hear from so many different people that you've touched so many different members of the community in ways that have really transformed their lives and that's just a beautiful you know story to be able to tell but it's on you here I'd like to hear how you are but also the mission of the Y for those people that might not know because the good thing is the Y in Burlington is the Y in Burlington it's not the one that's out in San Diego we're all different so you tell us we all are different but you know as I'm thinking about our mission I think in some ways you kind of encapsulated it there informally in that people have stories to tell we often ask people we meet in the community do you have a Y story and so many people do often with our Y which is great if they're local but sometimes with otherwise otherwise around in the country and if if we when we see that we've had that lasting impact that whether it was a swim lesson a group exercise class whatever it may be early child care that's my Y story my son started my son it was early child care here and how old was he when he started he was two or just shy of two when he went to the early child care program that at that point they were operating as some space at Edmunds right and that was wonderful for him so that was great and even further back again a Y connection my grandfather when he moved from outside of Boston Medford Mass to New Rochelle New York outside of New York City for a job in the 1930s as he went down for that job he didn't have a place to stay and often as young men would do back then they stayed at the Y now I don't know whether he stayed there for two weeks or two months right for him that was first home base and that connection and that community and that was 90 years ago but that desire to form connections exactly remained central to whatever it is that the Y does so I'm honored to be part of the Y and our mission and I'm glad to be here with you and I think what you're doing for Jennifer is at the key of kindness it's doing something for somebody else yes it's for her memory and honoring her and I love it thank you so much Doug that means a lot her legacy is certainly strong so that feels great to be able to talk with people like you and find out different things that are happening locally and even beyond because I know the Burlington Y is recognized on a much higher level even why of the USA and Chicago has always been very appreciative and very impressed with the level of programs that exist here in Burlington I mean it's it's a city but it's small compared to many other locations that were wise are located and so the fact that so many good things happen here is just beautiful and I'd love to have you just share obviously along the lines of the mission but how you see kindness on a day-to-day basis at the Y as a result of the mission that you serve sure I'll tell you a little bit about our mission quickly stopping off on how we got there and we've been in Burlington for more than 150 years in fact our Y opened just a year after the city of Burlington was incorporated as a city so it's a deep history and the services we've delivered have changed but it's always been community focus what does the community need so 150 years ago it was something then different from what the communities that we serve need now and we're actually in the process of a strategic planning right now started in May we'll finish at the end of the year start of the new year to figure out is there something new or different that the community needs out of it's why in addition to what we're doing fabulous but now we are in youth development and healthy living and social responsibility our three pillars if you will foundational pillars the healthy living plays out largely at our building at 298 college street so that's fitness traditional fitness group exercise classes use of fitness equipment up on our second floor and general wellness and then youth development we have early early childhood programs right have the whole north wing of that beautiful new building is dedicated to early childhood programs more than 100 kids we serve in that program and about six weeks eight weeks to five years old we also operate and a partnership with the uvm medical center an early child care center in wanouski for medical center employees fabulous we've had a long i think it's 20 plus year relationship yes doing that so that's wonderful youth development also plays out in school age programs by school age we mean kindergarten through sixth grade or so and sometimes a bit older that's after school programs in communities like waterbury all over right as well as on Georgia so a number of after school programs and in the summer many of them convert to summer camps parents with respect to the child care part of that program they still need care while they're working during the summer right their need doesn't end on the last day of school so we run summer camp day camp right from those schools from those schools fabulous and we have 120 plus year old overnight camp up in north hero camp abnaki a boy's overnight and now they know it well yes yes fabulous place it's incredible it's just a beautiful location yes i think what an opportunity a common theme throughout particularly all of those youth development programs but in everything we do role modeling and that includes elements of kindness which i think show up in our core values the why core values of caring honesty respect and responsibility play out in everything that we do exactly and that's always been the case i know back when i was there a decision wouldn't be made unless if it incorporated those core values which is beautiful and that's how i feel about like jen with her mantra and folding that into anything that we do we can go think about something that may be kind but it doesn't maybe you know meet the needs of that community so that's what you have to find just as you're doing with your strategic plan things have changed and ways to reach out to people so that they know that they have support that has changed a lot so the why has always been phenomenal with that i mean through the pandemic you know complete turn do shift gears all of a sudden you're prepared for that so it's very impressive the way that the the staff has always risen to the occasion and can do things that will really impact the community's future in a positive way and i like to hear how you say that when you were at the why is true today that we use those four core values as a filter when trying to make decisions it's also a great opportunity and we've got signage all around our building whether it's in the aquatic center the gym the fitness center uh stressing naming those core values what they mean it also helps therefore in conversations if it's not just among staff but with a member if we're seeing something like do you have a moment to talk and like you know i saw this we've got a core value of caring here just wondering how does that what a beautiful approach right enlightening because sometimes yeah you don't understand necessarily where they're coming from and then it's a whole new scenario once you get the fact that there could be something that you're not seeing there but you know again thankfully with the diversity that you know the why has and brings together some of those words are foreign to people they don't know and so what an opportunity you know and even personally when i started at the why was my first opportunity with you know non-profit and it's a different mindset and it's a beautiful experience to be able to look at things through that lens purely and that's what i love about the why is obviously every organization needs needs money but when the when the mission is you know so pure it's great to see how the community does support the initiatives that you've put in place whether it's programings or donations but the reputation is stellar for the results and outcomes that have taken place and we get the opportunity to touch so many lives in many different ways take the aquatics program and again we can we can incorporate those four core values of caring honesty respect and responsibility right down to something like a swim lesson where we've already had more than 800 kids come through swim lessons this year and we've got two more sessions to go before the end of the year so we've got that kind of impact to not only teach the hard skill the life skill of swimming and water safety most importantly we don't need to create olympic swimmers we want people to be safe and enjoy the water but we also have probably close to six thousand and more than six thousand members right now so think of all those people it's it's approximately 1100 people a day whether it's walking through our door for health and wellness participating in early childhood at an after school or summer camp program put those all together and we have the opportunity to touch 1100 people a day their lives and impact them so why would we not do it in a way that models kindness and our core values so it plays out day to day sometimes we find ways to emphasize it a little more than others and you and i have talked about something that the why did this past winter and it was a kindness wall love it absolutely what we wanted to do is we've all been going through a lot in this pandemic the last two and a half years is to pause for a moment and ask people to share something a thought of kindness a lot of it was wonderful and that it was appreciation for why staff for all that they had done to get them through to get this whole community through that comes to the why in the broader community and i see up on the screen now oh yes is that so we got messages from folks and we put them up that's the wall inside of a glass conference room we have in our lobby so everyone who comes in and out of the main part of our building walks right past that so we invited people in to share a message of kindness but it went beyond just that appreciation right so we start to see some of the message it was beyond appreciation just for why staff people who are sharing messages the one that's up on the screen first i think really encapsulates it very well how one thinks about kindness in that it starts with thoughts it goes to your words behaviors habits values and your destiny love that quoting gondi yes and you know that's holds true today forcing is that absolutely i think that gets into i like the part about habit you know it's really someone you have to give a little thought to it and you're not always in the mindset yourself right you're feeling kind or generous but the more you do that i think the more second nature it becomes so true dug something else that we saw in a number of the messages that and some that i selected to show today focused on self you know things like times are hard be nice to others and be nice to you remember that you are enough we're all in this together or don't be too hard on yourself you spend the most time with you make it a good time i love that that is fabulous and it's so true every guest that i've had on we have made reference to the fact that it's truly about self-care it can't start anywhere unless if you're saying you know it has to feel good for you that's not a selfish thing because you want to be kind to somebody but it starts there because sometimes it if it's a change for you it can surprise you just how great that really makes you feel and by doing that again you're focusing in on how can i feel better today and what a great alternative to be able to make somebody else feel good and then later on in the day you can think you know i made a difference today and in this day and age you know there's a lot to be said for that i think sometimes about a distinction between selfish and selfless i know a lot of people who are warm wonderful people who i wouldn't for a moment think of selfish but sometimes do they take the extra step to think about being a little selfless what can they do for for for somebody else because i'm not sure everyone understands the impact that they can have that's right and it doesn't have to be a grand gesture i saw some of these messages touched on that just the small kindnesses make the difference you want to be kind of wave the other car in front of you because at another intersection they're going to get someone that gives a different gesture so when i take the opportunity to be kind yourself and and and you know usher someone across don't be in a rush yourself exactly so the small acts and i think those those do build ultimately as part of this kindness wall and inviting these messages we thank people by giving them a t-shirt that said i am why and for us that reinforces what we're trying to do in generating a community at our y of kindness right those testimonials that the y has you know just is at the highest level truly life altering testimonials so here's a photo of kevin wearing that i am y wonderful t-shirt smile so i have to say it warms my heart a bit when i walk in and i see someone has chosen to wear their i am y shirt that day and again really viewing those values them understanding what we're about in trying to create create a community and you know it's something that we've always known anyone who works in the wellness area fitness wellness some people use our aquatics you have the opportunity to impact someone's physical health and you always understand that there's a residual effect on someone's mental well-being if they're feeling good physically exercising but that never became truer and clearer to us than during the pandemic and the number of people that were so appreciative of us the fact that we were open the fact that staff were there and getting you know masked up the ultra high protocols for cleaning and everything and they're like i'm working at the hospital or i'm doing this and i'm just at it all day long that i can come down here i'm into this space exactly and so much to them and that was only possible because of our staff mostly young staff on the front line but for mental health for mental health did for people what that did so it drove home even more concretely for us and more clearly that vital role that we play besides being a set of weights upstairs or a fitness room for zumba a pool for swimming laps whatever it may be that it goes well beyond that so we're just happy to play that play that role and what i used to love and to me i always get this vision is people check into the desk at the y and there could be four or five or six people even and you have like you know the mom might go this way maybe the dad goes this way the sister goes this way the brother everybody's got something to do at that time because of the love level of programming and then next thing you know an hour hour and a half later they're all right back in the lobby and all right ready to go and i mean what a way because on the kindness tour the one thing that resonated so clearly was you can't really impact change in a community unless if you're getting to really the the entire source so in many cases you can't just help say for instance a middle school child that's struggling with different things unless if you know what their home life is about and can address that and work on the whole system because you can help just so much with one person but they still have to deal with home life in those cases and so to be able to address that and to have all of the you know with with grants and programming from why of the you know of the usa all of the fabulous programs that are sometimes free but if not very reasonable for people to participate in and those can exit exactly the you know the financial assistance that you provide is is life altering for families and for individuals people moving to the area that might not you know have a lot of money to get started they're able to create their new community and it changes the the whole trajectory of their life i mean it's beautiful it's right you mentioned that um people coming to y instead of feeling at home there was a couple of messages people there was one i think it was something the effect of i just moved here from out of town and i've come to the y and i already feel at home right beautiful so one more could we ask for it taking years to happen and yeah someone who can find connection and we understand that power and somewhat the responsibility that we are community crossroads we are getting people of of all different backgrounds whether that's racial and ethnic whether it's socioeconomic whatever it may be we are that crossroads uh and we are thinking a lot in the strategic plan about what that means and how do we how do we utilize that opportunity exactly to do more and we're thinking at you know some of those thoughts are about civic engagement we've all lost a little bit of civility at the broadest sense of civic engagement not exactly so is there some role we can play and be a neutral corner if you will right any great resource for people that really don't have all of the information perhaps if they have just moved here from another country and the new americans it gives us an opportunity to learn from them and for us to teach people what they need to know even regarding our government as you say it's just so you know multi-leveled as far as the resource that you are so far beyond just lifting some weights for sure well and you mentioned i'll just seize the opportunity you mentioned uh the fact that the y connects with and serves members of the new american population but it's not without partners i think of a doctor jennifer green and others who have a clinic at the hospital that serves new americans she doesn't just worry about what's in the four walls of her clinic and using her stethoscope and checking blood pressure she's always reaching out to us about aquatic programs water safety safety exactly how can she further support she's given collaboration right there and that partnership is you know again just so impactful yeah and and just an example that she understands uh that there's more opportunities out there and that her job goes beyond she is exemplifies that kindness and seeing that her job is beyond the the four walls are the corners of the paper that describe what a doctor may do in that clinic and and we love partnerships like that another one within the aquatics department about every other year we get a grant from autism speaks to make sure that we can provide at no cost adaptive swim lessons to kids and adults largely kids who are on the autism spectrum again we want it to be a place for everyone uh in our in our facility and so if we can bring more people in from who have diverse experiences i think that also i think ultimately engenders when we're part of a community where there's so many different people of different backgrounds it engenders greater understanding and from that i think flows the greater opportunity and likelihood for kindness uh so we try to find those relationships grow in ways that are different even from the way that relationships you know have evolved in the past but it still shows the importance of a relationship through the pandemic i think you know unfortunately there was just so much mental illness but having a resource like the why you know is better than anything that could happen when somebody's struggling for maybe having been alone for two years and they can come into the why and feel even if somebody's like hey where were you yesterday oh my goodness that makes them feel like somebody knows and and that it i don't mean to you know make it seem simple because the outcome is far from it but it's those gestures that are genuine that you don't even realize how you can turn somebody's day around we we work very hard to make sure all of our relationships whether it's uh for a member for a family taking a program a donor that it's uh it's relational not transactional yes we could just as easy run someone's credit card every month and take their membership fee but we want more that's right we have the opportunity for more we want them to feel they're getting more out of it and therefore deliver more to others you know we're just talking and writing something up about group fitness classes it's more than 15 20 individuals who are in in a class breathing heavy and getting their pulse it's a tribe it's a tribe they form relationships and support and so we again value that opportunity and take serious that responsibility we have to try to create more opportunities like that that's just beautiful and you know we've talked a lot about about what we do at the health and wellness side but boy the opportunity and i mentioned earlier in the context of being role models whether it's early childhood or those school age programs summer camps after school we take very serious that as well because if we can model kindness and our core values from the very beginning at the early childhood programs and with school age kids um you know that's that's as important as anything else and again that those programs go well beyond the title of a program or description of two or three sentences about what the program is it meets these hours it we're going to do this but so much more happens right and a lot of that happens that is the culture because the people who opt to work in those and right an organization like the y is incredibly fortunate to have people choose to come to the y so that they can connect with people they can understand we talk a lot about helping deliver on the potential of every child right yes if we don't realize that there's potential in every child we're making a big mistake and so to help deliver on that and to have those people who take to that so strongly and so immediately right it's a different you know type of dynamic than they may have at a you know a for profit facility or just a different industry in general it is a different approach and that's as you say very fortunate to have the people yourself included that are here at the y for the good of others i mean yes it makes you feel good but um can you think of an example Doug when you talked about you know role models and maybe the after school programs or the camps of a scenario or a story where that leadership really did twist the the culture in that program so that children were being more kind to one another well i i think you know where i see most visibly literally on the back of the shirts for our camp abnaki staff it says role model yes right you know where they know what that means we're reinforcing that for everyone there but it's true i think and i hope he doesn't mind me talking about him in this form but our current camp director brian roy started as a camper brian roy oh my goodness currently our camp abnaki director i want to school with his dad he started as a camper yes oh he was mr abnaki wasn't he he acknowledges and shares that his family needed a little support right so he and his brothers could attend abnaki oh there are four of them but boy he took in what it meant to be a role model and what one gets out of that experience it could be transformative yes as i think it was in part for brian uh i'm not gonna say abnaki alone made the difference for brian but it meant enough that he came back to it exactly um but the opportunity that we have and an overnight camp in particular is a place where kids have the opportunity to truly be themselves you see them particularly if it's a two-week session as it goes through how they just drop some of their barriers and then you really have the opportunity to make a difference and you know i heard this in the context of a of a college football coach but i think it's true in an opportunity that we have with youth at the y college football coaches ask ones you know how are your boys this year kind of like what's the prospect for your win-loss record and he said i don't know i'll tell you in 20 years when i see how they turn out oh geez how perfect is that yes yes same same at at the y and that opportunity to see i i credit the y with you know my wife and i will take some credit but our son sure i think he's growing up to be a fine young man and it started with many things including the care he had and the attention and support he received oh i couldn't agree with the war pre-school program matthew and his um friend were at camp abnaki for five summers and had the time of their life it was just a time that's what they talk about if they get together now all these years later you know there's some great memories there and right and it is there's a little bit of freedom but as the time goes on they let themselves go and i think they even get more in touch with themselves it's beautiful absolutely yeah that's setting that's you know in that in that camp we get letters of appreciation from families and the parents remark about the changes and responsibility again one of our core values is he's now clearing his dishes from the table little little things but really who is this person that came home we pick up the wrong kid who is this they but they see a larger transformation and helping them uh you know the motto at camp is help the other fellow yes right so what better i think message of kindness than to help the other fellow because isn't that sort of what it's what it's all about uh in the way that things play out so with that as we do wrap up doug could you just fill us in maybe with the website but also you know for camp abnack in these other programs how can people donate if they did want to support like a camper sure you know you know all of um we have a new website we launched in the past year gbymca so great a brollington gbymca.org okay and on that page you can find about all the programs we've been talking about and we very much encourage people to make a donation we make it easy there's a number of places on the page okay good so just about getting to the website at the very bottom yeah gbymca.org learn about the programs and you know last year i think we gave out three hundred and twenty three hundred forty thousand dollars worth of financial assistance high quality child care should not be out of reach for a family swim lessons and the ability to be safer on water should not be out of reach uh for any child a summer camp experience that can be transformative a membership so you can have that physical and mental well being that you gain from working out uh and we are a non-profit people sometimes forget that we're a non-profit because we're we're kind of an interesting mixed model we charge for a membership and we charge for programs but it doesn't mean we're not a non-profit because we do so much we do free water safety classes all that stuff with dr green and the camp splash our safety programs at no cost exactly and so we remove the financial barrier making ourselves a place for everyone so that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy when people would have like the membership for all and some financial assistance for their membership and then whether it was a year or two years down the road they had been able to get a job because they never all of a sudden they're giving money and talk about feeling good absolutely i loved it and i saw that happen so many times just what a difference a year or two or three can make and then that person's on the other side being able to feel even better than when they received it it's like i'm giving this back that whole concept of paying it forward oh completely paying it forward we see that play out in in instances just like that we certainly see people who have been members and then and then donate and then i think also with someone like a brian rory or other staff members that speaks volumes that experience of a wide program and what that meant to them and that they're taking advantage of that now and sharing it back but his dad bruce who i had gone to school with is actually running for the house of representatives so that's very exciting and new chapter in in their life another way to pay it forward through civic oh absolutely that's for sure yes well this has been fabulous i know we could talk forever and i hope that we can get together again and talk forever but um thank you for sharing all of the work that you're doing and if somebody wanted to just go to the y now and check it out is there a past can they just go in and get a work out and try to see if this is something that they want to do so they can try it talk to the front desk um talk to the front desk they'll give you a tour give you a you can get a sense as to whether we have what folks need and and whether we're the right place for you good we are we hope you are we think oh i i know you are yeah thank you so much dog great to see you all right you too bye now