Southeast Family Center/Armed Services YMCA Military Outreach
About the Armed Services YMCA
The YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region offers Armed Services YMCA programs that provide educational, personal growth, child-care, recreation, and referral services for military personnel and their families. Activities such as Kids Adventure Days, parenting classes, aerobics, family budgeting workshops, Friday Family Fun Nights, and other programs help strengthen families and provide a connection to the rest of the community.
In addition, YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region offers an income-based rate scale. Financial assistance is available so everyone can participate in membership and activities regardless of income.
Armed Services YMCA Monthly Events
Armed Services YMCA activities are free or low cost to help the many military families that operate on very tight budgets. Participants do not need to be YMCA members.
Armed Services YMCA Regional Office:
The Armed Services YMCA office is located at the Southeast Family YMCA facility next to Sierra High School.
2190 Jet Wing Drive
622.9622.
The Armed Services YMCA organization...
The YMCA is for everyone and has a long history of outreach to help people in the military.
YMCA volunteers were commended by Abraham Lincoln for providing physical and spiritual comfort to troops on the battlefield during the Civil War. American poet Walt Whitman, who was one of the volunteers, called his service with the YMCA "the greatest privilege and satisfaction...and most profound lesson of my life."
Today one of the greatest needs is supporting military families. Families and especially children face many challenges with frequent overseas deployments, relocations and the stresses that come with military life. Branches and affiliates of the Armed Services YMCA operate over 60 program centers providing a wide variety of programs especially designed to help military families and their children. For more information about the national Armed Services YMCA organization, please visit www.asymca.org.
Operation Kid Comfort
The Southeast Family Center/Armed Services YMCA of the Pikes Peak region is teaming up with Ft. Carson and the National Armed Services YMCA to bring Operation Kid Comfort to this area for children of deployed parents.
This program eases the stress of a parent's absence from the home by providing a free photo quilt for children six and under and pillows for children seven and up. Photographs of the deployed parent and family are scanned into a computer, and then printed onto fabric. The photos are incorporated into a quilt or pillow. The quilt or pillow is then given to the child to play with, sleep with, or use to comfort them from the grief of missing their deployed parent.
If you are interested in receiving one of these quilts or pillows, click here to complete a request form.
For more information contact: kidcomfortcolorado@hotmail.com.
Operation Purple
This summer, Camp Shady Brook has the honor of working with the National Military Family Association to host Operation Purple camp. We will be hosting 110 campers free of charge, August 8-13th. The target participants for this great program are children whose parents are in a 12 month window of deployment or who are currently deployed. Registration for Operation Purple begins March 15 and can be completed at www.militaryfamily.org. We would like to inform the great men and women of the armed forces in our branches of this opportunity. Attached is a flier to be displayed or handed out as you see fit. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the camp office.