Oasis Gets New Furniture!

The YMCA Oasis Teen Shelter was able to purchase some much-needed new furniture! The new chairs, couches, and beds have really improved the shelter and both Oasis teens and staff love it!

One of Our Own is Gettin' Hitched!

Last week the ladies of the Y got together to play games, give gifts, and give advice to Sports Director Erin Hickman who is getting married in November. We had a great time watching Erin stuff Bubblilicious bubblegum in her mouth when she got answers wrong about her fiance (some of them were pretty hard...the name of his first pet?! Who came up with these?!) and teams competed to create the best wedding dress made of toilet paper.



The decorations and cake were pretty representative of Erin's personality: no pink and lots of camo, baseball, and cowgirl stuff. We all love Erin and wish her and Joe the best!

Camo and with a baseball and bat; that's Erin! Since crowns wouldn't do, we made the bride wear a cowgirl hat!

Things got pretty heated in the toilet paper wedding dress competition. One team thought the other was trying to steal their ideas, so some of the team held up workout mats so they couldn't see what was going on.
Sport Department employee Katie and Fitness Director Stefanie were the models for the toilet paper wedding dresses; Katie's team won :)

Erin gagged a couple times with all the bubblegum she had to put in her mouth when she got questions wrong about her fiance. We had fun watching her, though.

All the ladies had a great time at Erin's bridal shower! At the Y, we are a family and we are so excited for Erin to be starting her own!

Lots of Fall Fun!

We had so much fun at the YMCA Halloween Carnival! We had many (about 300!) witches, princesses, animals, zombies, and little police officers visit our wonderfully decorated gym Friday evening. The kids, volunteers, and staff all had a great time; we can't wait until next year!

Staff and volunteers did a great job turning the gym into a Halloween haven!

Trying to catch the duck was as much fun as the prize!

This was a family affair!

Only at Halloween can fairies meet Woody.

Guapo the clown loved making balloon animals for everyone!

Everyone was a winner at the lollipop tree!

Who doesn't love to get their face painted?

Even the volunteers were in the Halloween spirit!

No one was too young for pumpkin bowling!

Halloween Carnival!

Bring your little goblins, witches, and ghosts to the YMCA Halloween Carnival on Friday, Oct. 22! From 6:30pm to 8pm in the YMCA gym, kids ages 2-8 and their families can play fun carnival games, win prizes, and join the cupcake walk! Guapo the clown will also be present to make fun balloon animals!

This is a great opporunity for your family to have some Halloween fun in safe, warm, dry, and age appropriate environment! Of course, everyone can come in a costume, but all costumes must be preschool friendly.

The YMCA Halloween Carnival is a tradition in Skagit Valley, so don't miss out this year!

What is the Oasis Teen Shelter?

The YMCA Oasis Teen Shelter makes a difference in Skagit County. There are many misconceptions about what kinds of kids go to Oasis, what goes on at Oasis, and many misunderstand the purpose of Oasis.

Many kids in our community live in homes where substance abuse, conflict, physical abuse, and other serious issues are present. Often kids living in these situations feel they need to escape and very often they do this by running away. Unfortunately, this means these kids are literally living on the streets or couch hopping. Sometimes growing up the way they do and living on the streets leads these kids to practice unsafe and unhealthy habits.

The YMCA Oasis Teen Shelter gives these kids somewhere to go. If they need to get out of an unsafe situation, they can stay overnight and get a hot meal. Oasis also has daylight hours that provides meals, showers, laundry, and support from trained staff. Oasis also provides workshops/classes about GED preparation, employment readiness programs, and life skills.

Kids who come to Oasis are cared for by trained staff and also receive case management. Staff work with the kids who come to Oasis to find long-term housing solutions and support. Oasis is intended to be a short-term solution that also provides troubled youth the tools they need to improve their situation.

Volunteers are a big part of what makes Oasis run and is necessary because of the kids in our area (we get youth from as far away as Concrete), which means Oasis is a part of our community and you can help. This is not a small issue, many youth receive the support, food, clothing, and dry place to stay because of Oasis. Did you know in 2009:

• 84 different youth were served at Oasis


• Oasis provided 3,069 meals and 969 bed nights


• 46% of teens were reunited with family after leaving Oasis


• 38% of teens attended school reguarly after leaving Oasis

If you are interested in volunteering or would like to make any kind of donation to Oasis (food, clothing, bedding, furniture, etc), please contact Oasis Director Camille Danon at c.danon@skagitymca.org.

Family Nights!

Serving families has always been at the heart of the Y. We are a place where they can respite from social, economic and educational challenges, and learn how to overcome them. We want to provide opportunities for every family to build stronger bonds, achieve greater balances in their life, and become more engaged in their communities.

And, so, we have Family Nights! Every Friday night from 6pm-7:30pm starting Oct. 8 is Family Night at the Y! We will have swimming, open gym time, and special activities (including Zumba) each week.

Family Night is FREE for full-facility members; $7 for program members and their families. Adults must be accompanied by children.

Don't just stay home and watch TV with your kids on Friday night; come to the Y and strengthen your family bond by having fun together!

Win free Y stuff!

We just received several boxes of fun stuff that has the new Y logo on it! So what does this mean for you? You can win some of it!

This week, attend a fitness class and enter the raffle to win a free workout towel! A winner will be drawn at the end of the class. These towels are really cool looking with the new bright Y colors and perfect to take with you when you exercise!

We will be giving away 10(!) sport bags at Family Night on Friday, Oct. 8! Everyone in the family can use this bag. All you have to do is enter the free raffle when you check in. You must be present to win.

Want a cool Y water bottle? We will give away water bottles to the 5 people who visit the Y the most Oct. 1-Oct. 31. That's right, you have 5 chances to win a Y water bottle! All you have to do is make sure you check in at the front desk each time you come to the Y for a groupfit class, to swim, use the equipment, or whatever brings you to the Y!

Become a Skagit YMCA Facebook fan because that's where more opportunities to win will be posted!