It surprises many that I will be leaving the Y in the fall.
I am not just obnoxiously in love with my job there as a youth program co-ordinator and in previous years as a membership services representative, but the community and lifestyle the Y has welcomed me in to with open arms is not something I keep to myself. It is known. I may as well be branded. I adore the place inside and out, and what the staff and families have done for me there amounts to a debt I will work tirelessly to repay.
I believe some kind of divine intervention brought me there, and not working at Dairy Queen or selling shoes in the mall. Something beyond my understanding offered the Y to me and the potential for change in my life grew tenfold. I am respected there and I feel valued. I spend more time at the Y working, swimming, volunteering, and the like than I do my own home. However, I am at a point in my life now where I need to be making more than I do there to support myself, my volunteer activities and charities, and eventually pay off my student debts as well as the prices which go along with an active job. I know if it were anything else, the Y would have accommodated for me, but I cant find it in myself to ask for such a significant raise at this point. Working with disabled children doing respite work will not be as fun and I will not be involved in the same community, but it is still a step forward.
People like to remind me that I shouldn't need to defend myself; that I don't owe the Y anything. They are wrong. I owe the Y everything and no amount of work and charity could ever make up for what they gave me and who I've become as a result. Whenever I've felt I have nothing to give, the Y has proven me wrong whether they've known it or not. Whenever I've felt inadequate, the Y has given me the space to succeed.
I was hired a timid and largely incompetent student for the role as a front-desk representative and I found myself perpetually worried that I wasn't cut out for what I was doing despite how much I was enjoying integrating myself in to the community and being able to give low-income families subsidized memberships. This was not an outlandish paranoia- I really wasn't cut out for the position. However, the Y didn't look at people like this. Whatever I was, it was clearly enough. I was supported and offered help to an unbelievable degree- it may have been in their best interests to let me go, because I simply wasn't able to keep up. but this wasn't their solution, and this philosophy will follow me for the rest of my life.
I was given a second chance with working with the youth, and they were patient with me as I was learning to drive and needing extended holidays due to my parents being divorced and in Calgary. I was encouraged to challenge myself, and I was praised for succeeding. I have never encountered such considerate leadership in supervisors. They worked together to accommodate for me, made a space for me, and had faith in my abilities.
I do not have the stereotypical loud, outgoing personality one associates with people who work with kids, bu nonetheless the Y takes a strength-based approach and this allowed me to work with what I had while still consistently focusing on self improvement. I excel at my job now, and there is no greater feeling. When I am working, I not only feel on top of the world but I feel more confident and healthy and appreciated than I could have ever expected out of a minimum wage type job. I became intimately involved with a community of diverse and compassionate people, families, staff and volunteers which is in a word- priceless.
Because of my involvement in this community, I was inspired to become a Big Sister, which is ultimately the best decision I have ever made which would not have been possible had I not been exposed to my own hidden strengths working with children and charity. I have also made lasting relationships with families which have lead me to other volunteer and career opportunities, among other things, which I pursue with gratitude. The physical facility, too, has given me the space to be healthier in mind and spirit. Finally, being part of the impact the Y has on families of all kinds has been an unforgettable experience which played a huge part in my decision to pursue social work.
When I leave the Y, I want to make it clear that I will still be donating a portion of my paycheque to Strong Kids no matter where I end up. I will continue to volunteer for the organization and I will pay for a membership there if need be. I will do everything I can to remain involved, only not for 40+ hours a week like I had used to.
My story is not an uncommon one for members and staff alike. The place does not have a high turn-over rate, to say the least. The reason we are so obnoxiously branded for life is because the slogan couldn't be mo
re true. Especially in Lethbridge, the YMCA builds strong communities, and for me personally this has been an invaluable organization and workplace in my young life.
I am not just obnoxiously in love with my job there as a youth program co-ordinator and in previous years as a membership services representative, but the community and lifestyle the Y has welcomed me in to with open arms is not something I keep to myself. It is known. I may as well be branded. I adore the place inside and out, and what the staff and families have done for me there amounts to a debt I will work tirelessly to repay.
I believe some kind of divine intervention brought me there, and not working at Dairy Queen or selling shoes in the mall. Something beyond my understanding offered the Y to me and the potential for change in my life grew tenfold. I am respected there and I feel valued. I spend more time at the Y working, swimming, volunteering, and the like than I do my own home. However, I am at a point in my life now where I need to be making more than I do there to support myself, my volunteer activities and charities, and eventually pay off my student debts as well as the prices which go along with an active job. I know if it were anything else, the Y would have accommodated for me, but I cant find it in myself to ask for such a significant raise at this point. Working with disabled children doing respite work will not be as fun and I will not be involved in the same community, but it is still a step forward.
People like to remind me that I shouldn't need to defend myself; that I don't owe the Y anything. They are wrong. I owe the Y everything and no amount of work and charity could ever make up for what they gave me and who I've become as a result. Whenever I've felt I have nothing to give, the Y has proven me wrong whether they've known it or not. Whenever I've felt inadequate, the Y has given me the space to succeed. I was hired a timid and largely incompetent student for the role as a front-desk representative and I found myself perpetually worried that I wasn't cut out for what I was doing despite how much I was enjoying integrating myself in to the community and being able to give low-income families subsidized memberships. This was not an outlandish paranoia- I really wasn't cut out for the position. However, the Y didn't look at people like this. Whatever I was, it was clearly enough. I was supported and offered help to an unbelievable degree- it may have been in their best interests to let me go, because I simply wasn't able to keep up. but this wasn't their solution, and this philosophy will follow me for the rest of my life.
I was given a second chance with working with the youth, and they were patient with me as I was learning to drive and needing extended holidays due to my parents being divorced and in Calgary. I was encouraged to challenge myself, and I was praised for succeeding. I have never encountered such considerate leadership in supervisors. They worked together to accommodate for me, made a space for me, and had faith in my abilities.
Because of my involvement in this community, I was inspired to become a Big Sister, which is ultimately the best decision I have ever made which would not have been possible had I not been exposed to my own hidden strengths working with children and charity. I have also made lasting relationships with families which have lead me to other volunteer and career opportunities, among other things, which I pursue with gratitude. The physical facility, too, has given me the space to be healthier in mind and spirit. Finally, being part of the impact the Y has on families of all kinds has been an unforgettable experience which played a huge part in my decision to pursue social work.
When I leave the Y, I want to make it clear that I will still be donating a portion of my paycheque to Strong Kids no matter where I end up. I will continue to volunteer for the organization and I will pay for a membership there if need be. I will do everything I can to remain involved, only not for 40+ hours a week like I had used to.
My story is not an uncommon one for members and staff alike. The place does not have a high turn-over rate, to say the least. The reason we are so obnoxiously branded for life is because the slogan couldn't be mo
re true. Especially in Lethbridge, the YMCA builds strong communities, and for me personally this has been an invaluable organization and workplace in my young life.
Comments
Post a Comment