The YMCA of Northern B.C. can teach the nation a few things, said two of its top national officials visiting Prince George today.
Scott Haldane, the president and CEO of YMCA Canada, and board chair Marilyn Kapitany, will spend the day with local managers, staff, volunteers and members of the Y. Part of the reason for their visit to Prince George is to celebrate the recent name change from the Family Y of Prince George and what it means for its operations.
"It is consist with a trend we're seeing across the country where locations are asking themselves if they can serve the larger region than just their municipal boundaries. Many are doing this, and looking at their roles on a regional basis. We were delighted Prince George took that step," said Haldane, making his second visit to the city in less than two years.
For Kapitany, it is a first visit. She said, "We certainly want to see what's happening in Prince George. It gives us a better understanding of the relationship between the local location and our national body and that helps us deliver our services to all our locations. It is a mutual conversation and it gets stronger when you see the location in person."
Although they are connected by a central not-for-profit organization, each location is run as its own autonomous charity. There are 51 spread across Canada, and thousands around the world. The Prince George chapter chose at the local level to strive for a regional mandate, and brought that to the national body for consideration.
"They had a very solid base, a solid case for this mandate expansion so it was something we encouraged," said Haldane. "We have really defined the national vision we want. We have a stated vision for the ideal state of Canada, and recognized as a group that the realities are not at that level. We have agreed amongst ourselves on what we should do to help reach that common vision to strengthen the foundations of the communities we serve, to nurture the development of young people, fostering healthy living, fostering philanthropy and community giving. In northern B.C. I know that the YMCA is going to do a lot of important work to help communities get closer to those goals."
