Non-Profit News
LEARNING TO GIVE BACK
Original story published by the Midway monitor. See it here
The Friendship Club was started by Gary and Jean Ales over 50 years ago. Gary and Jean both graduated from Central High School. Now a new Central Sophomore student Satya Mamdani from Central and her sister Rosanna decided to be a big part of the Friendship Club by giving out Roses to the community.
For the past four years, Joseph Lallier, a junior at Eagan High School, organized with Eagan Sam’s Club to collect roses not sold on Valentine Day and give out to the community.
Satya and Rosanna Mamdani wanted to get involved in bring a little smile to people in their community. They asked if they could pass out roses at the Midway YMCA.
After they pass out roses at the Midway YMCA, the group went on to reach out to about 1,000 people by delivering them to 11 Senior Centers, police, fire and five schools.
People receiving a rose from either Satya or Rosanna could not believe that these girl took the time to give back to their community in this very special way of kindness.
The Importance of Athletics to the Youth of Today
Some words of wisdom from our youth handball coach Mitchell Lallier. Its a very interesting read on how important sports are to the youth of today.
People always asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to do all their sports”? Well I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my kids to to do sports. Personally, I couldn't care less about what sport they do.
So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for?
- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.
- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go to their training but they go anyway.
- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body and learn how to correctly fuel their body for success.
- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates, gracious in defeat and humble in success.
- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that placing or title they'd hoped for, but still they go back week after week giving it their best shot.
- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.
- I pay for my kids to respect, not only themselves, but others, officials, judges and coaches.
- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.
- I pay for my kids to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.
- I pay so that my kids can be in the gym instead of in front of a screen...
Youth Handball 2019 Program Information
We are pleased to announce that our youth handball program for 2019 on September 14th and will run until May 16th. As usual the program will be split into two parts depending on the age and experience of our players, below is more information on the breakdown:
Now that the school season has officially started we would love for you to consider joining us for another great season of Urban Handball. The program will be split into two parts depending on the age and experience of the players involved, below is a list of the breakdown of the two opportunities available to our youth:
University of Minnesota Rec Center ( ages 13 -18)
123 Harvard ,Mpls
9am -11am
Midway YMCA 1pm to 3pm ( new players and kids 5 – 13)
We hope to see all of our handball players come back and join us for another great season! Please feel free to invite your friends and family to come and experience the sport for themselves, we are always looking for new players from all ages!
Clayland One Wall Celebration
We couldn’t have asked for a better day to play handball on the new Clayland Park One Wall! The experienced came to showcase their skills to a new lineup of upcoming star handball players.
We were lucky enough to be featured in Channel 5 news and which will help build awareness to the community about the new one wall. We are hopeful that we will continue to see players come to play handball in the great outdoors.
Stay tuned for more exciting events like this to come! Thank you for everyone that attend this event and made it possible.
Academic Success Planning
A new academic year is upon us yet again! While parents and students double check their school supply list in preparation for a new school year many of them may overlook the importance of laying out a plan for academic success.
Having an academic success plan has becoming more crucial as the academic landscape continues to become more competitive year after year. Having a laid out plan could be the differentiating part of a student’s academic success for the upcoming school year and beyond.
Starting an academic success plan should start year in the school year and ideally should be one of the first tasks a student completes at the beginning of any school semester. It will help guide a student through the process of reflecting on what worked in the past but also to think about what changes they can make based on prior learnings they have had. Long term planning will allow a student to have the framework in place to help them meet their academic goals.
At Kids on the Line we will have every student go through an academic success plan where they will reflect on things that worked in the past but also things that didn’t go so well. They will also highlight subjects that they are passion about along with subjects that they may need to work on so they can focus on getting a well-rounded educational experience. Going through this process will allow us to cater how we help tutor our students in their academics to help them be successful.
Thank you to Tim and Paula Leahy
The Minnesota Youth Handball program would like to thank and recognize Timothy Leahy, who recently passed away, for donating money to the youth program. Tim’s wife Paula decided to recognize the great gift of handball in Tim’s life by donating money to help young people who love (or are perhaps just learning) handball. The youth program will use the funds that the Leahys have donated to send young people to the World handball competition.
Tim started playing handball when he was in college at Saint John’s University in the 1960s. He enjoyed playing handball regularly, in tournaments and recreationally, for nearly five decades. Tim made many life-long friends while playing handball, and he always encouraged young people to learn the sport because they can enjoy it for their entire lives. Tim certainly did!
Business Overview ~ Reviewed: 7/12/2019
Kids on the Line Business Overview ~ Reviewed: 7/12/2019
Executive summary:
Kids on the Line will strive to expose multicultural students in the local Twin Cities to help prepare them for education beyond high school through tutoring them on leadership, community service,leadership,and life skills.
We will be partnering with the Midway YMCA after school program to recruit students to our program and we will ask fora 3 month commitment in order to minimize turnover. Students will be tutored with work study Hamline University students twice a week where they will focus on academics and life skills. Students from Hamline University will gain invaluable work experience by partnering with our program and will be recognized for helping our kids reach their goals.
Long term plans include partnering with other local after school programs in a similar format. We will take learnings from our pilot program at the Midway YMCA to ensure that any program expansions are executed flawlessly.
Mission Statement:
To be a catalyst to encourage multicultural students in the Twin Cities to further their education, develop leadership kills,give back to the community and improve their health through the sport of handball.
Market Analysis:
The vast majority of parents see the value of after school program with 82% supporting public funding for these enrichment programs.The labor market has been slowly shifting to both parents working full time over the years but recently the market has made a strong swing in that direction makes after school programs even more important to local families. Providing enriching after school programing not only allows both parents continue to work on their professional development but also allows their children to be exposed to new and interesting ideas outside of the classroom.
Looking at the numbers a vast amount of K-12 students are not involved in any after school program. The barriers to their involvement may include financial barriers along with lack of transportation or even lack of interest or support in the current list of particular activities. Adding a different program,such as Urban Handball;to the list may strike the interest of a subset of these students.
Source: After School Alliance
Organization and management:
• Board of directors (in progress)
o David Engler
o Gail Cederberg o Dave Dahl
• Advisory board
o Phil Gebben Green o Mitchell allier
o Tom Pearson o Greg Taylor
o Erica Villanueva
o Jazmin Danielson (TBD)
Services Provided:
• Tutoring on both academics and life skills
• Opportunity to give back through community service
• Givingstudents a place to meet new friends and make long lastingfriendships
• Opportunity to learn how to planhandballto improve their health and work on sportsmanship
Thank you to the Schultz foundation
Since 2009, several of us have been teaching the wonderful sport of handball to young people at the Midway YMCA and at the University of Minnesota. This year we are sending six teenage players to the World Handball Championship in Minneapolis, August 9-19, 2018. Three of these young men came from families that could not afford membership at the YMCA. Because of the scholarships from your Foundation, these young men are able to use the Y handball courts during the summer and prepare for the international competition in August.
The Minnesota Youth Handball community would like to thank you for the scholarships you made available for youth in St. Paul. It is making a real difference for our program and for these young men. We hope to make Minnesota and the Midway Y proud at the World Championships. Again thank you for your support of Youth in Minnesota.
Valentines brought to Episcopal Homes
The Friendship Club, started in 1965 by Gary and Jean Ales, again brought flowers to Little Sisters of the Poor, Episcopal Homes, Humboldt High School and the Midway YMCA. The Friendship Club collected flowers from Sam’s Club in Eagan to be shared with seniors and other community groups. Jerry Quinn organized a group of residents, including former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer, former St. Paul City Councilwoman Ruby Hunt, Lyn Lawyer, and Mitchell Lallier to distribute the roses to those living at the Episcopal Homes. While Quinn was passing out flowers, he handed out a dozen yellow roses to a mother and daughter. There were tears running down her cheeks, happy at the remembrance of her husband. The daughter said that her mother always received a dozen roses from her father on Valentine’s Day. All day long similar stories were shared from the Episcopal Homes and Little Sisters of the Poor. (Photo provided)
Original article published in the Midway Monitor. See it here