Letter from Deb
Deb Geesey, Executive Director
When I think about what progress means, the definition certainly applies to
Deb Geesey presenting at Asian New Year Celebration
the YWCA Gettysburg & Adams County. We have evolved throughout our 80 years in the community. I feel that we are continuously improving, developing and growing to reach our goals. I know our staff and board have the heart to be the best that we can be, and I understand that there will always be obstacles along the way, but I know our members and the community count on us and our services. We are committed to progress through the future!
Before we look forward to the coming year, we need to reflect on the past and celebrate our successes. A focus for our YWCA has been expanding our racial justice programs. This led to the creation of several cultural events during the past year and in my eyes, these have become the highlight of our organization. Our Asian Indian, Chinese New Year, and Cinco De Mayo Celebrations, the Unity Walk, Holiday Stories from Around the World and most recently our Irish and Italian Celebrations attracted hundreds of people. We completed our second annual Race Against Racism to join other YWCAs across the country in supporting racial justice education and advocacy within our community. Members, staff and board believe in our cause, and I feel strongly that these events have strengthened our community and have brought people of different backgrounds together as we continue to live our mission, “dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.”
Another area of focus is the economic empowerment of women. We do this through programs we offer to elementary and high school students to inspire girls’ interest and involvement in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. These fields are traditionally male-dominated and our goal is to have women equally represented. In 2010, we will offer a Women’s Economic Empowerment Education Series. We will partner with other local women’s organizations, banks, insurance companies and other service providers to educate women about basic budgeting, saving, insurance, building credit, and buying a home.
One way that we gauge our progress is the YWCA Peer Review. Our local association must abide by the Affiliation Standards set forth in the bylaws of our Regional Mid-Atlantic Council and the YWCA USA. The assessment tool used for the peer review is a checklist of 45 standards of compliance with a focus on operational, financial, mission, membership, diversity and hallmark (programs having an intentional and direct impact on racial justice or women’s economic advancement) standards of excellence. The review starts with a self assessment to confirm compliance with each standard. A review team from the council spends 2 days interviewing staff, board and volunteers at our facility. A written report follows and associations are required to follow up on specific standards. Our staff just completed our follow-up report! Each staff person teamed up to tackle the response and find supportive documents to prove that we meet the standards. We worked together and learned a great deal about the YWCA’s expectations of performance at the local level. It was most gratifying to realize that we have made immense progress since the original review.
Our hope for the future of the YWCA is to continue to become a stronger financial organization. For the second year in a row, we have ended the year with a positive cash flow. We are getting better at analyzing our programs and creating realistic budgets, but this has become even more difficult in the midst of these challenging times. We are cautiously weathering the storm thanks to our sponsors, donors, vendors, staff and board. The economy and the state budget impasse have had an impact on all of us – our families, our friends and our organization. We are doing everything possible to continue with business as usual. During the course of the past year there have been difficult decisions made and things that had to be done to protect the organization’s future viability. Nothing worth doing is easy and keeping the YWCA available for generations to come is surely worth taking care of!
We continue to look forward to becoming financially secure so that we can more freely offer our resources to other community organizations in support of their missions and open our facility to the community. The YWCA collaborates with many community organizations. We are eager to forge new relationships because these partnerships strengthen our efforts to have a more positive impact on Adams County.
The YWCA provides facilities for better health and relaxation, and quality time for individuals and for families. We offer three quality childcare centers throughout the county. We offer educational experiences and social activities. We provide life skills in learn to swim classes, first aid and CPR. Along with recreation and wellness programs, we continue reaching out to people of all ages. To ensure that all families in our community can take part in these and all YWCA programs, our Membership Assistance Program provides need-based scholarships.
Our growth could not happen without our community and our community is in a better place having the YWCA as their neighbor. I use the word community often because that’s what the YWCA is about – bringing people together. We are grateful for the support shown to us over this past year and I am optimistic about our future. My vision for our YWCA is to be the hub of our community.
Our goals for 2010 remain constant. They are commitment, financial stability and growth. We are committed to our mission. We are committed to being a force in our community. We are committed to you!
If you want to join us in our endeavors, please contact me at any time.