My Y Makes Volunterring Fun

My Y has provided me with at least two wonderful opportunities to volunteer in a massively enjoyable way.

First, it allowed me to engage with YMCA youths while discussing one of my passions, Hip-Hop culture. Over the course of several sessions, I've had the chance to touch base with some of the younger YMCA members (usually while eating pizza) to discuss various aspects of Hip-Hop culture. We've discussed how to mine the culture for positive ideas such as entrepreneurship, leadership and creative expression. We've also discussed ways to avoid some of the negative aspects of the culture including misogyny, violence and drugs.

Second, my involvement with the YMCA has allowed me to interlink my work with the Y with my involvement with the University of Dayton alumni in Columbus. Every year, the U.D. alumni hold a holiday event called Christmas Off Campus. As part of this year's event, U.D. alumni met up with YMCA youth at Easton Town Center. With the assistance of movie passes from Todd Tuney, funds from the U.D. Alumni Association and the generosity of the attending U.D. alumni, we were able to participate in two wonderful events.

First, we went to see the animated film Bolt, which features the voice acting of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. The U.D. alumni bought concessions for the Y youth. After the movie, we went to Gameworks and played a slew of video and midway games for hours. It was a wonderful Saturday event.

Darren L. Nealy, J.D.