For the past few summers, the Meeting Waters YMCA has been providing financial assistance for a family with three school age children while the mother was undergoing aggressive cancer treatments. Unfortunately, this past school year, the mother passed away.

This summer we extended an offer of assistance to the father again, so the children could attend camp. Dad told us that he was so grateful for the opportunity for the children to come to camp and just be normal kids. The oldest boy had taken the loss of his mom very hard and was taking on a lot of responsibility for the two younger girls. Dad just wanted him to be able to “be a kid”. The children have thrived at camp and Dad feels we are part of the “extended family” that is so important for the children’s continued well-being.