YMCA of BRISBANE CELEBRATES 147 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

Monday 1st August 2011, marks the 147th year the YMCA of Brisbane has been active in the Brisbane community. Since 1864, the YMCA of Brisbane has provided opportunities for all people to grow in Body, Mind and Spirit.

The YMCA was originally founded by George Williams in England in 1844 and today is a worldwide organisation operating in 124 nations with a membership base of over 45 million people serving the needs of 14,000 communities.

The YMCA of Brisbane is a values-driven organisation providing a broad range of community services such as child care, community fitness, sport and recreation, camping, youth services, accommodation and accredited training. Services are provided by 450 staff in over 50 locations throughout South East Queensland.

A key focus for the YMCA of Brisbane is to provide support to its benevolent arm (Y-Care) as it delivers resources and support to marginalised and at-risk youth. Services provide alternative training and education programs, meals for homeless youth and youth mentoring.

In conjunction with Foodbank, the YMCA also supplies over 180,000 free breakfasts per annum to children at 28 schools.

In March 2011 the YMCA, through its Y-Care benevolent arm, officially opened the first YMCA Vocational School in Kingston. The YMCA Vocational School was named the Clem Jones Campus in honour of the late Dr Clem Jones and in recognition of his ongoing support of the YMCA’s proud history of youth development.

The YMCA Vocational School will specifically target marginalised and disadvantaged young people aged from 14–18 years who have become disengaged with mainstream education. The emphasis is to re-engage students and provide vocational qualifications in skills shortage areas, thus enabling immediate employment after leaving school.

In the past 12 months the YMCA of Brisbane has either completed or commenced several significant community building projects in conjunction with the Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council and other community groups.The projects include a $1.3m gymnastics facility at Acacia Ridge, a $14.7m, 63 bedroom affordable housing and community complex at Nerang and a $10.25m redevelopment of community recreation facilities at Perry Park in Bowen Hills.

Chief Executive Officer, Alan Bray stated,

“The YMCA of Brisbane has a long and proud association with the communities of South East Queensland. We are particularly proud of the YMCA Vocational School project and wish to thank all those involved in enabling the concept to come to fruition. We look forward to finalising the projects under construction to enable the YMCA to continue its strong involvement in Queensland and welcome the opportunity to work with both the public and private sectors in all areas of community service.”