Published by the Olean Times Herald on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016
By KATE DAY SAGER, Olean Times Herald
OLEAN — Finding good, affordable child care can sometimes determine if a parent is able to hold down a job or not.
Because there has been a greater need for child care in the community, officials with the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation have provided a $3,500 grant to the Olean Family YMCA to provide child care scholarships for a number of young families.
YMCA officials said the grant will directly support individuals in the community who are unable to participate in the licensed child care and early learning center programs at the YMCA without financial
assistance.
“The Renodin Foundation helps the YMCA meet its mission of promoting Christian principles that develop healthy spirit, mind and body for all,” said Jeff Alevy, CEO of the YMCA of the Twin Tiers. “Nobody is turned away from participating at the YMCA without
an opportunity to receive financial assistance.”
In addition, he said the YMCA does not withhold services due to the inability to pay.
Alevy said last year the YMCA provided more than $380,000 in scholarship assistance to over 1,000 individuals locally. Included in those helped were 300 families who needed child care in Olean.
“In a community where seven out of 10 children at the Y’s early learning center can only attend as a result of financial subsidy, the Y focuses on developing youth capacities to learn and socialize,” Alevy said. “The Renodin Foundation is a blessing to our community and to the families the YMCA serves.”
Laura Whitford, president of the Renodin Foundation, said the organization has helped the YMCA in the past through grants that provided scholarships for memberships. This is the first time, however, the YMCA has been helped by the Renodin Foundation with a child care grant.
The Renodin Foundation, affiliated with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, bestows grants to nonprofit organizations that provide aid to those who need assistance. Grant applications are accepted Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 from organizations in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in New York, and McKean County in Pennsylvania.
“The YMCA has been a longstanding grant recipient of the Renodin Foundation and this year they indicated a particular need for their child care services,” Whitford explained. She said the Franciscan Sisters are very concerned with unemployment and underemployment. As a result, the grant is expected to help families go to work and have peace of mind while their children are cared for at a licensed day care facility.
“This is a very critical need in our community that children are safe and cared for while their parents are at work,” Whitford added.
A YMCA staff member shared her personal testimony of the YMCA’s financial assistance program.
“Without the program, I would not have been able to find high-quality child care for my infant,” the woman said. “While enrolling my child in the child care center, I discovered they were hiring. After completing the interview process, I was hired, and I started a new journey with my child and my new employer.”
The woman said the availability of financial assistance at the YMCA not only changed her life, but her daughter’s as well.
For information on the Olean Family YMCA’s child care financial assistance program, contact Mary Miller, executive director of child
care, at 701-1381 or visit www.yourymca.org.
Financial assistance for YMCA membership also is available to those who qualify. Contact Lisa Szucs, membership director, at 373-2400. Donations to the Renodin Foundation, which provides 100 percent of its donations to nonprofit organizations and agencies, may be sent to 115 E. Main St., Allegany, NY 14706.
Photo: Renodin Foundation President Laura Whitford (from left), met with Mary Miller,YMCA executive director of Child Care, Sr. Marigene Kennedy, Renodin board member, and Jeff Alevy, CEO of the YMCA of the Twin Tiers, during the presentation of a $3,500 Renodin grant to aid the YMCA’s licensed child care program.
