NEWS RELEASE
YMCA OF SIMCOE/MUSKOKA
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The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka announced today that it received a donation of $100,000 from the RBC Foundation to support the Y’s efforts to serve new Canadians settling in Barrie and surrounding areas.
This donation, coupled with a $50,000 donation last fall, brings RBC Foundation’s total support for the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka to $150,000. With these funds, the Y will provide all new Canadians registered in the YMCA’s Immigrant Services programs with a one-year family membership to their local YMCA Health and Fitness Centre at no cost.
The donated funds have already provided over 130 new Canadians with a one-year Y membership, and will allow the Y to continue to provide this service for the next three years.
“The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka Immigrant Services plays such an important role in welcoming newcomers to the Barrie community, says Frank Berdan, Vice-President, Commercial Banking at RBC. “As more and more new Canadians choose to live in the Barrie area and become active members of the community, the YMCA programs help them connect with their new community, help them feel safe and help them feel at home.”
According to research from the YMCA of Greater Toronto, being a member at a YMCA Health and Fitness Centre increases levels of physical and mental health, sense of belonging and life satisfaction.
Haleema Marsroor and her family are recipients of the RBC funded YMCA memberships, and are seeing the benefits of joining their local Barrie Y. "The YMCA family membership is benefiting our family by keeping us physically and mentally healthy and helping us socialize with new people in our community,” said Marsroor.
Since 2016, the number of immigrants in Simcoe County has increased by 20 per cent. As one of the primary settlement agencies within Simcoe/Muskoka, YMCA Immigrant Services acts as a 'first stop' for newcomers – supporting their continual process of settlement.
Services include everything from English language classes, employment counselling, information on social services, schools, health care, and housing to referrals to education, government, community services, and more. The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka provides these services to almost 500 new Canadians each year.
“We are thrilled by RBC’s continued support of the work our Y is doing to build healthy communities across Simcoe, Muskoka and Parry Sound. Our newest Canadians are among our most vulnerable populations, and we are so pleased that through the generosity of RBC, we can connect so many recent immigrants to a ‘centre of community’ where they can spend time with their neighbours, be active and thrive,” says Rob Armstrong, CEO, YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
For more information about the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka Immigrant Services, please visit here.
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