Youth Foundation Meets with YMCA and Orrville Area United Way

The Wayne County Community Youth Foundation (YF) held its March meeting at the Orrville-Dalton YMCA to learn more about the services offered by the Orrville Area United Way and the YMCA.

Vicki Prunty, United Way administrative assistant, facilitated a "Making Choices" financial budgeting exercise in which each student represented a family unit consisting of two working adults and two pre-school children. Based on local expenses for food, clothing, housing, transportation, child care, insurance, entertainment, etc., each student had to determine where they would allocate their family budget. They quickly realized even with a dual income family, they were not well prepared for any major "hiccups" such as job layoffs, a job loss, a sudden family illness, or major auto repair. Prunty added a dose of reality to the activity because she shared her own experiences with poverty and survival.

This was followed by Susan Tucker, YMCA executive director, who provided a tour and presentation which emphasized the Y is so much more than swimming, basketball, and volleyball, although basketball and volleyball were invented at a YMCA. Tucker reinforced their mission of strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility, which just became easier with the new Ohio Reciprocal Membership program. It permits Y members the ability to use other Ohio Y facilities at no extra charge.

The rest of the meeting focused on presenting Youth Foundation grant evaluation recommendations. In the February meeting, YF announced it had received seven YF grant applications from local non-profit organizations. the students formed evaluation teams that had to evaluate, interview and , if necessary, do a site visit for presentation at the March meeting. After the results of a secret ballot, the Youth Foundation students finalized on two grant award recommendations for a total of $3,316 from the Wayne County Community Youth Foundation Fund for approval by the WCCF Trustees at their May Board meeting.

A component fund of the Wayne County Community Foundation, the Youth Foundation was established to provide educational and practical experiences on how community foundations operate for the purpose of getting students engaged in local "structured" philanthropy. The 23 students represent six different school districts and meet monthly on Sundays from 2-5 p.m. This meeting was facilitated by Deanna Troutman (WCCF Trustee) and Ferenc M. Relle, Jr. (Youth Foundation Advisor). Applications for the 2015-16 class will be available April 1 at www.waynecountycommunityfoundation.org.