Taxes, Charity and the Downtown YMCA

The YMCA is very special to me and has been a meaningful influence in my life for 57 years. I was second in a family of four boys living “south of the tracks” in a rather rough neighborhood. Through our school, I joined the Y in the fourth grade as a “Friendly Indian” and became a “Y’s guy” for life. Although I participated in all the Y programs and events, I never paid any fees--didn’t know where the money came from. Work was available around the Y for me to do, and so I earned my way sweeping and cleaning out the Y and keeping the handball courts and locker room neat and tidy for the businessmen that came in every afternoon. Now I know where the money came from.

By the time I had finished high school, all of the neighborhood boys had spent some time in the Chino Boys Republic Reform School except our family. My debt to the Y gets greater every year even though I’ve been paying on it since I came out of the Navy in 1946.

The Y is more than just another “health club” building better bodies--it is a “body, mind and spirit organization” helping young people of all ages grow and develop to achieve the maximum potential for their lives. In all my years as an active volunteer with the Y, there has never been anyone turned away for lack of funds. There is always a way to serve people in need, and the YMCA will find it.

HUGO FRANCIS

Westchester