Letter to the Editor: Thank you to Selma YMCA staff

Dear Editor:

This letter is being written to say thank you to two folks who work very hard for us at the YMCA...Rashida Morgan and Austin Williams. Because I am a swimmer and the pool closes at noon, I rarely see them. I understand they both work other jobs, putting them at the Y in the afternoons. Saturday, as my husband and I were leaving the pool after swimming, we noticed there was basketball with the youth teams going on in the gym.  Friends of ours have children playing and one Dad we know was helping coach a team! Then I saw that tall man Austin with a clipboard in his hands and found out there are 17 youth teams going on this year! I had been concerned as I knew they were trying to raise money so the program could go ahead this year. Austin said they received a grant for it....which is a lot of their work for our local YMCA....fundraising to support particular programs.  And then I saw Rashida in the referee's black and white....perhaps the "cutest" basketball ref I had ever seen!  When I yelled that at her, she stopped the game and posed!!!  It was so good seeing the children learning to play together, the adults grooming them and coaching them for sportsman like conduct...all working together.  

When the Y had their Christmas Dinner this year, the organizer asked if I would write a poem. I did. The poem was titled "Why the Y?" It spoke of the Y being like family....it really is....from the friendly faces at the front desk welcoming you as you enter, to the lady who cleans, the exercisers and lifeguards in the pool when we swim, we truly are a come and go, meet you there, family. Come and join us if you need a place to belong....we really could use a larger family. We would welcome YOU. Oh yes, I do NOT want to forget to thank ALL the people in Selma who donated toward the building of this YMCA facility which was opened in 2007. You can read their names posted all around the building. May God bless all the YMCA family...those who contributed. Here's the poem, if it can be published, it might just get folks interested in being a part of the YMCA historical family here. And with YOU, we can be and do more. Hope to see you at the Y.

Why the Y?

Why the Y, you say-

We come because we like to move,

so we joined the YMCA,

trying (as we age), to stay in the groove!

We are welcomed, needs are met,

always feel better as we go.

And there's always more to get,

friendly faces becoming family, you know!

Barbells galore are in the door...

places to sit and conversate,

classes and machines to challenge if you want more,

and an indoor pool--how we rate!!

There's a basket called "SOUL FOOD" (God's Word),

take a strip, read and walk it out...

It will help us not be like a nerd!

The best is yet to come, no doubt!

So, thank you Y for being here.

We are better off with you

giving us healthy ways to steer,

YMCA with history imbued. 

Glad to be a part of that history,

and I hope you are too!

 Gail Box Ingram, 11-19-23