West Essex YMCA leads charge for a healthier West Orange

WEST ORANGE, NJ — A community coalition is using a $10,000 grant from Partners for Health Foundation to run a community garden and improve the town’s walkability, according to a press release. “We’ve launched efforts that encourage families to eat healthier and would allow them to safely walk from one end of town to the […]

South Orange girl starts program to support less fortunate peers

NEWARK, NJ — While most 12-year-old girls are thinking of different ways to decorate their own bedrooms, South Orange resident Briana Anderson is spending her time beautifying the bedrooms of unaccompanied minors at the Newark YMCA. Briana, a sixth-grader at South Orange Middle School, is one-third of a group called “BAM,” a social network formed […]

Worthwhile residents to receive 2016 Maple Leaf Awards

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — On Sunday, May 15, Joanne Beckerich, Linda and Gordon Barnes, and Virginia Kurshan will be honored as recipients of the Maple Leaf Award for their extraordinary volunteer and community service, according to a recent press release. “Whether the volunteer work of this year’s recipients has been given for service to maintain and […]

Y hosts Healthy Kids Day in Memorial Park

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Families are invited to Memorial Park on April 30 to celebrate the South Mountain YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, a free, fun-packed event to thwart the summer slide. From noon to 3 p.m., children can enjoy a giant challenge inflatable, a 50-foot climbing tower, a Spider-Man healthy lifestyle assembly, and camp games in […]

Girl Scouts donate cookie sales to YMCA

Local Brownie troop gives 10 percent of money raised in cookie drive to Y to give back to town

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The members of Brownie Troop 20874 had a two-fold lesson with this season’s Girl Scout cookie sale campaign: financial literacy and the importance of giving back. The troop donated 10 percent of its cookie sales, a total of $200, to the South Mountain YWCA as their charity of choice in an April […]

Metro YMCA spearheads #PreventNow campaign

LIVINGSTON, NJ — One in 10 people is sexually abused before age 18, an alarming national statistic that has produced a population of 42 million adults scarred by the childhood crime. Intervention can turn the tide, and during National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges will join with YMCAs […]

West Essex YMCA gains $5K donation

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Residential care center CareOne at Livingston recently donated $5,000 to the West Essex YMCA’s annual campaign to support families and individuals in need. “The West Essex YMCA opens opportunities to children and adults who otherwise couldn’t afford them,” Steven Salvanto, executive campus director and administrator of CareOne, said in a release. Salvanto, […]