Your Tiftarea YMCA would like to give thanks at this season of Thanksgiving for the many blessings experienced this last year.  Volunteers have come together to give freely of their time and talents to make a positive impact on a child’s lift through the Y’s youth sports program, the summer feeding program, as well as canned food, coat, belt and underwear drives for needy children.   Other ministries such as the Christmas Extravaganza, Markesha Coleman Easter Egg Hunt, & Healthy Kids Day have worked to help families have meaningful time spent together in Christian fellowship and love.   Our lives have been touched and inspired by the amazing sense of community we see here in Tift County where so many people, organizations and churches have joined together to work so selflessly to help children and families.

Watching the families at the Y’s fall sports end of season carnival, we were reminded just how many children are affected by the efforts of volunteers and supporting businesses.  We would like to express our gratitude to all of the many coaches and team moms who made such enjoyable experiences possible for the Tiftarea youth.  The Y also extends a huge thank you to the following corporate sponsors: Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Future Farmers of America, Lowe’s, McDonalds, Papa John’s Pizza and South Georgia Bank as well as the Y’s team sponsors: Allen, Pritchett & Bassett LLP, Chicago Pizza & Pasta, El Cazador Mexican Restaurant, Fulp Family Dentistry,  Chick Gatewood Sales, Georgia Car Credit,  Hog-N-Bones, Jones Construction, Lamplighter Pub, Simply Silver LLC, Speedy’s-U-Pull-It, Southview Mortuary, Stoned Home Center, STS Trucking and Farms, LLC, The Boot Store, Transitions Salon and Zeke’s Bar-B-Que. 

Thanksgiving isn’t only a time to express our gratitude, but it’s also a chance to bless those who have not been as fortunate and help them have a reason to be thankful too.  Your Tiftarea YMCA is currently organizing a Community Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive.   We are accepting canned food and boxed goods with a particular request for turkeys, hams, canned green beans and cranberry sauce.  Through a joint effort with Beulah Hill Baptist Church and SALT (Saving Adolescent Ladies Today), the collected food will be prepared and distributed to families who would not be able to experience Thanksgiving otherwise.  

Cool weather is here and unfortunately many children do not have jackets to keep them warm.  Commissioner Melisa Cheevers is organizing her annual Keep ‘Em Warm Coats for Kids Program to help provide for the youth in our community.  Your Tiftarea YMCA, Carriage Cleaner, Kelly Cleaners, The Big Store and the Law Office of Joseph Carter are collection points for any coats you might be able to donate that are still in good condition.  The Tifton Housing Authority and DFACS will distribute these much needed garments.  Last year almost 600 coats were donated, let’s join together and serve even more children this year!

Another much needed service in our community is your Y’s Christmas Adopt-A-Child Program.  Children are chosen whose families would not be able to provide Christmas gifts for them without outside assistance.   Your YMCA asks that you adopt a child to help celebrate Christ’s birth and provide him/her with a laundry basket filled with shoes, underwear, clothing, a Bible, and toys.   The children will be hosted into a special site by the Georgia Firebird “elves” and given the baskets in a one-on-one session with Santa Clause himself! If you are interested in helping provide this special moment for a child, contact the YMCA at 391-9622 and we will provide you with the name of a child and his/her sizes and wish list.

Celebrate your many blessings this Thanksgiving and join with your YMCA to help make sure those less fortunate are blessed this holiday season too.  May we live the gospel from Matthew 24:35-40 where Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ’Lord, when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me.”