Intro to YMCA Paper

The YMCA

When I was in high school, I was continually left out of an important part of my friends daily after school activity. They were all members of the YMCA and would go there to work out. My family wasn’t members at the time therefore I wasn’t allowed to go without paying a ten dollar fee each visit. I remember telling my mom that my friends were so rude because they eventually quit telling me where they were going because they knew I couldn’t go anyway. At that time in my life, being a member of the Y meant so much that my friendships were altered because of it.

Today however, my family pays a monthly fee to be members of the YMCA. Out of the four people in my family, my seventeen year old sister and I use it most. My mom will go on occasion, and my dad has only been once at which time he was filmed in a music video, so he swore he would never return. By being a member of the YMCA, I have an insider’s perspective into my fieldwork site of choice.

The YMCA, or Young Men’s Christian Association, was founded by George Williams in London in 1844. This was a time of great turmoil and despair. For the young men who came to London to try and find jobs, there wasn’t much to offer. Troubled by what he saw, George Williams started the first YMCA with eleven people as a refuge of bible study and prayer for men around the area (ymca.net). The Y was unique because it strived to “meet social needs in the community and its openness to members crossed the rigid lines separating English social classes” (ymca.net).

“Years later a retired Boston sea captain, Thomas Valentine Sullivan, worked as a marine missionary and noticed that there was a similar need to create a safe ‘home away from home’ for sailors and merchants” (ymca.net). He was inspired by the stories of the YMCA in London and decided to form one here in the United States. On December 29, 1851, the first U.S. YMCA was formed at the Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts (ymca.net).

Overtime, the YMCA built housing to give young men moving to cities from rural areas safe and affordable lodging. Facilities included gyms, auditoriums and hotel style rooms. In 1861, a conference with President Abraham Lincoln led to a full-scale recruitment of YMCA volunteers that eventually totaled 5,000 (ymca.net) http://www.ymca.net/history/founding.html.

As the years pass, the YMCA continues to flourish not only as a place for members to work out, but also as a place of community and fellowship. Most people don’t think of the YMCA as a spiritual place, but it was built around Christian influences. If you take the time to look around, you will notice words, slogans and multiple brochures advertising small groups, bible studies, words of wisdom and spiritual vitamins.