For over 50 years, the YMCA of Northern BC has been a cornerstone to our community through child care services, camps, community health services, employment services, recreation, and health and fitness.
During the pandemic, the Y has continued to provide front line supports including emergency child care, access to health and fitness programs, combatting isolation to seniors, tutoring low-income children, helping youth find meaningful employment, and providing mental wellness support.
For nearly two centuries, YMCAs have been adapting, changing, and responding to the needs of the communities we serve. The YMCA has provided supports to Canadians since 1851, weathering events such as previous pandemics and world wars.
As we continue to rebuild and recover together, the YMCA is more relevant now than ever. We know that people need to feel connected and move their bodies, and that the resulting mental health crisis is already underway. We know that movement and connection are medicine.
During this global pandemic, the reliability and dedication of charities and non-profit organizations has endured. We have seen charities and non-profits throughout our communities show up in a significant way. They are demonstrating the power of people and making a true impact during COVID-19 as part of the response, the recovery, and the solution.
It has been a difficult time for our communities and a difficult time for our YMCA. The impacts of pandemic have led to temporary layoffs, greatly reduced revenue from fees and charitable giving, centre closures, and uncertainty. We are both grateful and proud of the way in which our team has adapted and continues to show up for our northern communities.
Charities and non-profits will continue to work on the front line and take a supporting role to provide help to communities across Canada in countless meaningful ways — from health and well-being, to quality child care, to housing supports; the list goes on. But the non-profit and charitable sector is in trouble. Operational charities like our YMCA run on a combination of provincially and federally funded programs, child care and membership fees, municipal grants, and charitable gifts to fund financial assistance.
Our YMCA subsidizes $300,000 annually because we believe that health is a right, not a privilege – no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. Without being able to generate adequate revenue, YMCAs are in a risky place. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has allowed us to make it this far. But we need help to keep going.
The entire charitable sector is in trouble. Imagine Canada projected that the charitable sector could lose up to $15.6 billion in revenue and 194,000 employees. This means the work that governments and people in our communities have trusted charities to do for decades may not be able to continue. Many communities do not have the infrastructure or expertise to deliver these services if organizations like the YMCA start to disappear.
Charities and non-profit organizations need and deserve to be included in the recovery plans of all orders of government, alongside policymakers and those deciding and directing investment dollars and support efforts. Our community cannot, and will not, recover and thrive without the aid and contributions of charities and non-profit organizations.
We know that almost every individual in our community relies on the work of countless non-profits and charities. We are grateful for the government and charitable support received to date, but it is still the early days. We need to make sure that charities like ours are able to continue to do the needed work throughout the COVID-19 crisis and through the tough years to come. By investing in organizations like the YMCA, governments invest in the people supporting the most vulnerable, ensuring that we have communities where everyone can connect and thrive again.
-Amanda Alexander is the CEO of the YMCA of Northern BC.
