YMCA of Montclair Helps to Bring Childhood Back to Our Community

— Academy Award winning actor Marcia Gay Harden serves as celebrity spokesperson—

Montclair, NJ: April 20, 2007 — Remember a time when kids could just be kids.  Not many do.  In America today, kids are growing up too fast and missing the years that determine their talents, passions and future life plans. Finally, however, there is a way to promote childhood in our community: The  Montclair YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign.

The Montclair YMCA’s  Strong Kids Campaign seeks donations from individuals, businesses and foundations to be able to continue to provide access to YMCA programming to children, teens and families who would otherwise be unable to pay.  This opportunity to support childhood in your neighborhood will allow Montclair-area kids the time and place to escape their adult responsibilities and just “be a kid.”

“Strong Kids promotes the one thing missing in our children’s lives — an active and healthy childhood,” said Thomas E. Boyton the CEO and President of the YMCA of Montclair.  “For many kids, it’s a chance of a lifetime just to go to camp in the summer or play on a basketball team that puts teamwork and friendship ahead of winning.”

Marcia Gay Harden, Academy Award-winning actor and YMCA mom, joins the YMCA this year as its celebrity spokesperson, as part of a commitment to serving kids through the national YMCA.  She volunteered with the YMCA of Greater Houston in their outreach to kids and families displaced in Hurricane Katrina.  Additionally, she was honored as the YMCA of Greater New York’s Volunteer of the Year in 2006.  She sees contributing one’s time to the YMCA as significant as a financial gift.

“Why in the world would you volunteer?” said Ms. Harden, “It’s the wisdom and the knowledge that we’re not on the planet alone and won’t get anywhere or build anything if we don’t reach out and help our fellow human beings.” 

The Strong Kids Scholarship Program provides families in need with financial support to participate in membership and program activities at the Montclair YMCA.  The YMCA of Montclair and community volunteers hope to raise more than this year’s goal of $180,000 to provide membership assistance and scholarships to programs like summer camp, after-school care and teen activities, so that no one is turned away due to an inability to pay.