YMCA of Lincoln Nebraska

Camp Kitaki - Sarah Hansen

YMCA Camp Kitaki's volunteer of the year for 2011 is Sarah Hansen. Sarah has been involved at Camp in many different ways, and is the type of volunteer that says "if you don't hear from me assume I will be there" and you believe it. Sarah is a current member of the Kitaki committee of management where she brings her experiences as a staff member at YMCA Camp Foster, a program director and office manager at Camp Kitaki, her expertise with horses and challenge course systems, and her perspective as a mother to her comments and suggestions at our meetings.

One of the areas that Sarah has really been an asset as a volunteer is in Camp Kitaki's horse program. As you can imagine dealing with the health and wellbeing of Camp Kitaki's 25 horses, and the additional 25 we lease every summer is no easy task. When dealing with 50 1,000 lb animals that you intend to put kids age 7-17 on their backs on a daily basis there is a lot of logistics to consider to ensure that the horse's, as well as the camper's safety needs to be met. Sarah helps provide insight, experience, and passion to the horse area of Camp Kitaki.

It is common for Sarah to spend long days in dusty sale barns, assisting the staff of camp in the buying and selling of horses, tack, and supplies. She has forged connections with local horse experts and traders, ensuring that they keep their eyes out for horses that would fit well into the program at Camp Kitaki. She has also helped to share her passion and experience with our summer staff members, aiding in their development by teaching them more about horses and their use in summer camp programs.

Sarah brings her entire family into her involvement with Kitaki, having her son Will and daughter Molly to look over marketing pieces, and asking her husband Kyle for his help, ideas, and involvement.

Cooper YMCA - Turkey Trot Committee Members:
Jason Shanahan, Lori Borer, Anna McVay, Bill Schulenberg, Drew Schulenberg, Brad Rettig, Cory Callahan

The Cooper YMCA is pleased to announce that Anna McVay, Bill Schulenberg, Drew Schulenberg, Brad Rettig, Cory Callahan, Lori Borer and Jason Shanahan are our volunteers of the year!
These individuals made up the first YMCA Turkey Trot race committee. We didn't really need a committee until this year. In fact, when this run first began 8 years ago there were 25 -30 individuals who participated in it and they were mostly Y staff. Then, about 5 years ago Jason volunteered to become the race director. He worked hard on the event making a few changes here and there -- most notably changing the name to the Turkey Trot and moving it to Thanksgiving morning. The first year of this change saw participation increase to over 500 individuals and families. That was when it became obvious that a committee was needed to help with the event. Each of these individuals stepped up. They started attending planning meetings in the summer of 2011. They met regularly to work out the details of the race. Some of the things they did was reach out to local businesses asking for corporate sponsorship, delivering and hanging promotional flyers all over town, developing the logo design for the t-shirts and water bottles, and stuffing race packets in the days prior to the run. Several of them helped hand out race packets on Thanksgiving eve and they all worked the morning of Thanksgiving Day. I know some of them were at the Y long before the sun came up to help with race day logistics, packet pickup and a multitude of other things. This run has developed into a great event that truly promotes healthy living in our community as well as raises funds for the Strong Kids Campaign.
Thank-you and congratulations on being the Cooper YMCA volunteers of the year!

Downtown YMCA - Erik Bahr

In November of 2003 Erik was an out-of-shape 23 years old who weighed nearly 300lbs, smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and faced a lifetime of health problems. His family doctor had given him a prescription for blood pressure pills, but warned once he started he'd be on them for life. His other option was to start working out and make some life changes. He chose the latter and joined the Y that same month.

Erik and a colleague worked out together at the Downtown YMCA over the noon hour mostly exercising on the elliptical machine. Within the first year he had lost nearly 100lbs. He brought his blood pressure under control and had quit smoking. He then started to take group cycling classes and also started swimming at the Y.

Within the past few years he has completed 9 open water swim events and have taken up yoga at the YMCA.
Erik, not only has kept the weight off, but also improved his overall mental and physical health, as well as continued to get involved at the DT YMCA.
Most recently Erik has become a Downtown YMCA Committee member, and has been very active in helping to raise money for the Strong Kids campaign. He recruited many riders for the Cycle-A-Thon and helped the event to reach the $10,000 mark. Erik is on the committee to make the 2012 Cycle-a-Thon's 10th anniversary a huge event. Erik is always willing to help when we ask for volunteers or volunteer input. For all of these reasons, we are excited to award Erik Bahr with the DT volunteer of the year award.

Fallbrook - Melissa Sanne

Melissa has been involved in the YMCA from a very early age. Melissa participated in volleyball, basketball and swimming lessons during her childhood and got an early exposure to the great things that the Y provided for kids and families.

As an adult, Melissa was involved in the Y as a Youth Sports parent. Her 12 year old son, Tyler has been very active in basketball, soccer, baseball, and swimming lessons and Melissa has spent many hours not only getting Tyler to practice and games but also serving as Team Mom for many of his activities.

When the Fallbrook Y opened in 2009, Melissa and Tyler continued to be a part of YMCA programs. Both as members and participants. This year, Tyler is in the YMCA afterschool program at Schoo middle school and continues to come to the Y in the evenings with his buddies to work on his game.

When Melissa was approached to serve on the initial Fallbrook COM in 2010, she was already involved in many volunteer activities. She was the PTA President at Fredstrom as well as served on the State PTA board, she taught Sunday school at her church and was in a bible study, she volunteered for the Peoples City Mission, and was even on the LPS committee to help name Schoo, Adams, and Kooser schools. And this is just a few of the things she was involved with…there are many more!
Even with all of these commitments, she had a passion for the YMCA and she was eager to serve. In 2011, Melissa undertook the role of COM Chairperson -- the first COM Chair for the Fallbrook Y -- and continues to serve in that capacity. In addition to serving as our Chairperson, Melissa has helped out with the Strong Kids Campaign by helping to staff an informational table in the lobby to educate members on the Campaign. She also coordinated some workplace events to raise money and awareness for the campaign. Melissa has also volunteered at the Fallbrook Fall Festival (5K run) and tries to attend and help at our Member appreciation events whenever possible.

Upon being notified about her recognition, Melissa said that she wished she could do more for the Y. It is in that spirit that we recognize her for her outstanding work and as our branch continues to develop, we know that there will be many more opportunities for involvement!
Please help us congratulate…Melissa Sanne.

Northeast YMCA - Mary McPhail

When thinking of the volunteer of the year for the Northeast YMCA, Mary McPhail, the words that come to mind are dedication, hardworking, never slows down, the job will get done, and much more. Mary has been a long time part time staff member at the Cooper YMCA, and is well known for her work with the various aquatics programs. Most notably Float For Life that teaches babies to float if they were to accidently end up in a pool.

In 2010 Mary's son Logan joined the Dolphin's swim team at the Northeast YMCA. Logan enjoyed the program and experienced success quickly. Being part of the Dolphin's swim team means your family is part of the swim team. Mary took the opportunity to be involved with great enthusiasm. For those that know Mary, you can understand what that means.

The Dolphin's Swim Team gives a volunteer so many opportunities, Mary jumped right in. Mary began by volunteering at swim meets, then onto recruiting other volunteers. Soon she was sending e-mails to the entire team's parents looking for volunteers for the summer swim league events, and onto larger events. This past summer while our Aquatics Director was on maternity leave, Mary stepped up to help organize and recruit volunteers, snacks, welcoming new swimmers, and for special events. This past fall Mary "signed up" the rest of her family, (John, Hunter, Logan, and Brendan), involved too. The big event, this past year, was in November where the Dolphins hosted a swim meet for over 300 swimmers. The meet involved getting other volunteers to commit to helping during the event, but also setting up the event and after the event. The team also needed items and workers for the concessions stand, so off Mary went to secure donations from various businesses, and individuals. As you would expect, the event went off great thanks to the great motivation and encouragement that Mary provided. Even before we could finish cleaning up the swim meet, Mary was making lists of how to do it better next. In March of this year the team will be hosting the YMCA State Swim meet.

As you can tell Mary is an excellent motivator, tireless worker (even on days she is exhausted), dedicated and mission driven. We are all pleased and blessed to have Mary as our volunteer of the year at the Northeast YMCA. Go Dolphins!

Youth Sports - Matt Frederick

I am unsure if Matt was a 3 sport athlete at East High or Doane College. But in 2011 he was a 3 Sport Coach for the Youth Sports Branch. Matt coached the Micro basketball team the Bearcats, the Micro Soccer team the Blazers and the Recreational Volleyball team the Sparks. Both of his daughters Ainsley and Catherine are reaping the benefits of his vast sport knowledge.

Not more important than his coaching but Matt has also served on the Youth Sports Committee of Management since 2005. He has been a regular member at meetings and has always had an opinion (level headed/good common sense) on topics to be decided. He has volunteered at Coach pick-ups over the years as well as the MIT basketball tournament. He has also served as the Youth Sports representative to the Metro Board for several years, presenting our budget to the Financial Committee when needed. I will go out on a limb and say that I believe Matt Fredrick loves the YMCA and especially the Youth Sports branch.