YMCA Stories

Meet Scott. He’s lived on the fifth floor of the YMCA Men’s Residence at the Downtown Hamilton Family YMCA for eight years.He was heading to the washroom in the early afternoon on Monday, July 22 when he saw a small amount of smoke.

Meet Athira. She’s 31 years-old and an EarlyOn Facilitator with the YMCA. But her journey with the Y didn’t start with EarlyOn.

Meet Amino. She's a newcomer youth and for the past four years she says she’s been coming to the YMCA Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC) every day. Amino first heard about the YMCA four years ago.

Meet Marjorie. She’s a mother of two boys under the age of ten, Marco and Isaiah. Marjorie always dreamed of going to camp, but growing up in the Bahamas, she says it wasn’t possible.

“I have a secret.

Meet Dorothea. She’s 90 years old and 12 years ago she had a stroke that forced her to make some changes in her life. That’s when she started coming to the Les Chater Family YMCA.

Meet Edgar Hernandez, the 35-year-old Program Manager and leader behind the YMCA Newcomer Youth Centres. Over the last 18 years, the YMCA has been there to ignite Edgar's potential, and he has shown resilience, dedication, and adaptability in his effort to help newcomer you

The YMCA of Hamilton | Burlington | Brantford has been chosen by two Home Depot locations as their Orange D

Meet Abdullah. He grew up in Kenya, but in December 2023 he came to Canada with two of his children. He says the decision to come wasn’t easy, but it was necessary as it was no longer safe for his son to be himself.