New sessions of Active Older Adults and Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle start the week of October 12th. Bring a friend to build connections while building a healthier spirit, mind and body!

Most of us would love to be a little more healthy—to eat a little better, to be a bit more active, to spend more time on the hobbies that nurture our sense of well-being, to devote more time to family activities, to find “balance”. Yet, many of us struggle to accomplish these goals… or, at least, to sustain them over time.

Meeting Waters YMCA is one of 21 in the country chosen to participate in the Pioneering Healthier Communities initiative -- a partnership between YMCA of the USA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more about our team and its plans here.

After-School Program Serves Hundreds of Children Up and Down the Valley

(Bellows Falls/August 25, 2009)  With the ringing of the first day’s closing bell at schools up and down the Valley came the opening the eleventh year of Meeting Waters YMCA’s ASPIRE  after-school programs at many of those schools.  

With the addition of a new program serving children and families in the Alstead Attendance Area, Meeting Waters YMCA’s ASPIRE program will now serve over 220 youth from thirteen communities spread over four counties in two states. ASPIRE now runs at all three elementary schools in Brattleboro, as well as at Dummerston School, Chester-Andover Elementary School and at the regional Y’s facility in Bellows Falls. That program serves children and families from schools in Bellows Falls, Saxtons River and Westminster. The new program hosted at Alstead Primary School will also serve students and working parents from Langdon and Acworth.

New tool will enable communities to make the healthy choice the easy choice

[Brattleboro, VT/June 10, 2009]—Meeting Waters YMCA and its partners in the Fit & Healthy Kids Coalition of Windham County are convening an assessment process with local leaders in Brattleboro, Westminster and the Deerfield Valley to measure supports for physical activity and healthy eating using a new tool—the Community Healthy Living Index (CHLI). CHLI enables community leaders to assess environments at the local level, including child care and after-school programs, neighborhoods, schools, and work sites.