March 2009 ASYMCA SNAPSHOT

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San Diego Armed Services YMCASan Diego Armed Services YMCASan Diego Armed Services YMCA

Volume 4, Issue 3March 2009

Serving 6,000 active-dutyjunior-enlisted military ser-

vice members and theirfamilies each month with

over 40 free programs!

Welcome!

Spring has finally come and theSan Diego ASYMCA has been mak-ing the most of the beginning ofthe season. Some canine friends

at the Naval Medical Centermade rounds dressed in greenshamrocks; military families bene-fitted from the generosity of manyCox employee Volunteers whospent hours putting together Emer-gency Supply Bags; and the 13thAnnual ASYMCA/ USO GolfTournament was yet again a

great success. It looks as if springhas gotten off to a great start!

ASYMCA Visitors

Compiled & Edited by Katie DesBois

Naval Medical Center, San Diego and the ASYMCAcelebrated St. Patricks Day 2009 with a bit ofgreen, a furry friend and countless smiles. Patientsand staff alike were greeted by ASYMCA volunteersPat Poulin and Visa Poulin. Wearing her shamrockinspired outfit, Visa brought the Luck of the Irishto each room and ward she visited. Pat and Visa,along with other Our Best Friends therapy dog vol-unteers visit patients at Naval Medical Center everyweek bringing smiles, hugs and a touch of home.

St. Patricks Day at theNaval Medical Center

RADM Michael Yurina,Vice Commander, SubmarineForce and RADM Frank Rennie, Deputy Ops Director,US European Command, visited the ASYMCA MurphyCanyon Facility on 27 Feb to discuss ASYMCA programsfor military families.


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More Starbucks coffee was delivered to Troops inKuwait and Iraq. Thank you Starbucks for donatingover 3,600 pounds of coffee!

Thanks to Cox Employee Volunteers andVolunteer San Diego,many families are now prepared for an emergency. Over 100 militaryfamilies went home with emergency supply bags filled to the brimwith donated items. Flashlights, First Aid supplies, and even Mac &

Cheese are just a few of the items that were popping out of bags onthe March 11th event. Volunteers also packed 500 kids packs for our ASYMCA Healthy Kids Day inApril. Thank you Cox Communications for your continued and enthusiastic support!

The month of March has been very busy at Naval MedicalCenter. Some of our activities included a three-day ski tripto Big Bear, a weekly Therapeutic Art Workshop, and a St.Patricks Day feast for the outpatients and staff.

Naval Medical CenterPrograms

We also received a special visit from US AirForce Golden West Winds Woodwind Quin-

tet. They made Naval Medical Center a stop ontheir tour, playing live music in Balboa Caf andsome of the inpatient wards, including Pediatrics.The patients really enjoyed being serenaded; itbrought a smile to their face and joy to their day.Well wrap the month up with a visit to BalboaParks exhibition Body Worlds 2 & the Brain, pro-viding the patients with an in-depth view of thehuman body & anatomy, as well as an intriguinglook into their recovery process.

Cox Employee Emergency Bag Project w/ ASYMCA

Starbucks for the Troops


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The U.S. Pacific Fleets 2008 sea and shoreSailors of the Year (SOY) were recognizedin ceremonies on Feb. 26-28. Theseevents, sponsored in part by the ASYMCA,recognized each Sailors dedication andperformance.

Ethan S. Clark of Fleet Readiness CenterSouthwest Det. Point Mugu, one of the fi-nalists, shared advice, Any Sailor, what-ever their endeavor might be, just pickthat goal you want to work toward and puforth everything you possibly can. Striveto be the best you can at that item, andthen move on to the next goal.

ASYMCA/ USO Golf Tournament

Just as the clouds began to clear on Friday, March20th, over 200 golfers made their way onto the Ad-miral Baker Golf Course for the start of the 13th An-nual ASYMCA/ USO Golf Classic.

Sailors of the Year

Thanks to the players, volun-teers, and staff, the tourna-ment was an absolute successand generated funding for

ASYMCA and USO programs formilitary families.


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MarchMarchMarch28 MVP: San Diego River Park Foundation

AprilAprilApril4 MVP: Oak Garden Maintenance

8 Healthy Living Walking Outing11 MVP: Los Penasquitos Preserves17 FFSC/ ASYMCA Spouse Indoc/ Tour18 Healthy Kids Day23 Computer Giveaway24 Celebrity Golf Tournament Wounded

Warrior Day25 MVP: Beach Clean Up26 Celebrity Golf Tournament Military Ap

preciation Day

Calendar of event

Youth & Community Outreach Programs

Strategic Planning Retreat

Pin Pals

Craft & Conversationand Kids Club

March 23, 2009 - Military familienjoyed a beautiful San Diegospring day at Murphy CanyonCraft and Conversation. Adultsconnected while they built herbgardens and decorative flowerpots. Kids stretched their legs Kids Club as they raced withfriends, hopped through hulahoops, and played musical instrments as part of a marching

band.

February 8, 2009 March 29, 2009 Through apartnership with Pin Pals Junior Links, 13 militarychildren ages 9 - 14 received free PGA golf les-

sons this winter. These junior golfer graduateswill now have access to many San Diego areapublic courses and the skills to enjoy a life longsport.

Board members, military volunteers, and ASYMCA staffmet on March 13th for our 2009 Strategic PlanningSession. The ASYMCA would like to extend a bigthank you to Mary Evert for planning a fantastic

retreat!

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Our Latest donors

Thank you for your support...

Cox Communications

Volunteer San Diego

Starbucks

The USO

FOCUS

Thank you ASYMCA/ USO Golf Classic Sponsors...

Thank you Corporate Partner Members...

The San Diego Padres

TriWest HealthCare

Booz Allen Hamilton

Gilbert Martin Foundation

Jana Harris Painting Inc.Lincoln Military Housing

Lockheed Martin

Pacific Marine Credit Union

Port of San Diego

Raytheon

SAIC

SDG&E

Sutherland Management Company

Armed Forces Bank

BAE Systems

DRS

GDIT

INDUS Technology, Inc.

Navy Federal Credit Union

New Way Landscape & Tree Service

Northrop Grumman

San Diego Air & Space MuseumSan Diego County Regional Airport Au-thority

USA Federal

Pro-Tech Painting

Sea Breeze Shuttle

Waste Management

Whitley Bradley

C. Neil Ash

San Diego Pest Control Inc.

Travel Dynamics Group


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Final thoughts...From the Desk of Executive Director Paul Steffens:

Happy Spring ! Around our facilities it seems like we keep springing from one eventto another as 2009, like 2008, is most exciting. One of the highlights of February wasthe annual Sailors of the Year events. Spending time with these outstanding men andwomen, who proudly wear the Navy uniform, instills further confidence in this coun-trys future. They stand tall and they walk-the-walk. The ASYMCA is very proud toparticipate in this annual event. Looking ahead, we are busy preparing for our thirdMilitary Family Service Providers Conference that will be held on 15 April to developprograms to meet family needs identified in the Military Family Support Summary andNeeds Assessment and to maximize the use of scarce resources by eliminating majoroverlaps and applying those resources to new programs. We appreciate the strong

interest and support of RADM Hering in this effort. The entire assessment report canbe downloaded from www.millitaryymca.com. Go to the bottom of the home pageand click on the report. I must again thank each individual and each organizationwho make donations to the ASYMCA. Your donations are particularly important in thecurrent economic conditions we all face. Your donations keep our programs operatingand enable us to expand as needs increase. We will continue to ensure that, out ofevery dollar we receive, a minimum of eighty-nine cents goes directly into programs.We will also continue to maximize our use of the internet for transmitting informationand reduce the use of paper. All information related to our programs is readily avail-

able on our website and, for special events we send email blasts to thousands of indi-viduals. The monthly SNAPSHOTS are also distributed only through emails to keepour operating cost as low as possible. If you want to know whats happening in theSan Diego ASYMCA, please visit our website. Thank you all for assisting military fami-lies.

Keep Chargin!Keep Chargin!

Paul SteffensPaul SteffensCaptain, SC, USN (Ret.)Captain, SC, USN (Ret.)

For more information on howFor more information on howYOUYOU

can make a differencecan make a difference

[email protected]

www.militaryymca.com

Documents

March 2009 ASYMCA SNAPSHOT