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YMCA offers youngsters many summer
experiences
Special to The Monitor
MABANK–For both parents and kids, the long summer is here and it’s never
too early to start thinking about summer vacation.
But this is the case for different reasons.
Parents are concerned with ensuring that their children are safe,
supervised, and engaged in activities that keep their minds and bodies
active.
Youngsters eagerly look forward to the free time, and simply want to
have fun and learn something new.
Lake Area YMCA day camp programs offer a solution designed to keep
everyone happy this summer.
Day camp for youth is one of the top programs offered by more than 1,700
Ys offering it.
Since YMCAs are independent, grassroots organizations, day camp
activities vary at each YMCA.
However, all programs are community-based, offering youngsters a unique
opportunity to connect with their communities. And at Lake Area YMCA day
camp, our campers enjoy a broad range of age-appropriate programs,
events and activities, from swimming, hiking, camp games to weekly field
trips.
“Gone are the days when day camp meant simply tying knots or making pot
holders,” day camp director Haley Lane said.
“Today, summer day camp programs at Lake Area YMCA are as diverse as the
campers themselves.
“We still provide arts and crafts, but we also offer kids exceptional
opportunities to enjoy activities and resources that are often
unavailable to them during the school year,” Lane added.
In addition to the range of activities offered at Lake Area YMCA day
camp, parents also have the flexibility of enrolling their youngsters
during sessions that suit their needs.
For example, if a parent only wants a child to participate two days a
week, our day camp can accommodate that schedule on a space available
basis.
“YMCA programs are designed to meet the needs and schedules of today’s
busy families,” Lane added.
YMCA day camp programs are always designed to provide opportunities for
physical activity.
This is vital due to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reporting that 9 million young people between the ages of 6
and 19 are overweight and on a very unhealthy path to adulthood.
“The number of overweight children in the U.S. has more than doubled
since 1980. Increasing the levels of physical activity in the lives of
our children is a critical component of this country’s efforts to help
children get healthier,” Lane said.
“No other organization is better positioned to help young people get
healthier and feel connected to their communities during summer months
than America’s YMCAs,” Lane said. “We encourage parents and kids to
experience our longstanding commitment to strengthening the spirits
minds and bodies of kids firsthand.”
Call (903) 713-9622 to learn more about Lake Area YMCA day camp for
youth.
Wal-Mart closed on Father’s Day
Power outage blamed
By Diane Murray
Monitor Correspondent
GUN BARREL CITY–It was a Father’s Day disaster for local customers, who
forgot to get that card or gift for Dad at Wal-Mart the weeks or days
before.
The store had to close down Sunday, due to a power failure from about 6
a.m. until after 3 p.m., according to store manager Paul Edmundson.
While thunderstorms did go through the area during the weekend, they
were not blamed for the outage.
Speculations were made that a snake caused the power outage, Edmundson
said. A five-foot snake was hanging straight down from the power line
near the transformer. Also in the transformer area was a bird nest, he
reported.
There was no way to prove what caused the problem, however, he added.
The store, which has some back up power, did not have enough to keep the
computers powered and other operation and satellite systems going!
Cart retrievers, who are normally very busy taking carts back into the
store on a Sunday after church, manned the doors and the front of the
store instead, turning away the very busy traffic.
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