Marjorie Christner ---- 25 Years YMCA Service

The Ligonier Valley YMCA would like to congratulate Marjorie Christner for 25 years of service. Marjorie (Marj) has lived in Ligonier all of her wonderful 63 years and first stepped foot in the current building during her sophomore year at the Ramsey High School; now the Ligonier Valley YMCA. Marj has two sons, a daughter and a grandson. Marj began working at the Ligonier Valley YMCA on September 11, 1986. She was hired to work in the babysitting service; now known as child watch. Over the course of her first two years the YMCA was undergoing considerable construction, transforming the building into the wonderful facility it has become today. Marj did not have a permanent child development room and was constantly moving from class to class. After two years of employment a position in the child development program became available of which she graciously accepted. Since 1988, Marj has worked with the preschool, pre-kindergarten and infant/toddler classrooms. Marj has witnessed several changes to the YMCA over the years, one significant change has been to the new infant/toddler room you see today which underwent it’s transformation on July 5, 1999. During the 2010 and 2011 Child Development Summer Camps, she worked as the supervisor for our free lunch program sponsored by the Westmoreland Food Bank. Marj has seen children whom she has cared for from very young ages move on to later graduate from high school and/or college, get married and eventually have children of their own. Marj continues to provide excellent care and devotion to the families at the Ligonier Valley YMCA and Child Development program.

Blaine and Martha Cleveland

 

To fully understand how the Ligonier Valley Y has helped my son, Blaine and me, I need to start at the beginning.  December of 2010. I graduated from the University of Akron with a B.S. in Accounting. At the time my son and I were living with my foster parents in Ohio, who had taken me back in when I got pregnant to help me finish college. Since I had graduated, I was given two months to find a job and get my own place. As I was nearing the end of my second month I still had not found a job in the accounting field. I started to panic. I applied to every job I was even remotely qualified for. Many interviews later, I still had not come up with a paycheck.  My fiancé’s mother then came to my rescue.  She told me that if I was able to find a job in the Latrobe area, where she lives, that I could stay with her and she would help baby-sit until I was on my feet.  To my surprise, I had a job a week later. At that rate I was given, I could not afford childcare.  Also, until I had my residency switched I could not get help with this from the state. My Fiancé’s mother told me about the Ligonier Y which she and her mother helped found. I was hesitant. I assumed that they would be like the other childcare providers I had already visited. That it would cost way too much.  That it would have no assistance programs and limited activities for the children.  To my pleasant surprise, it was the exact opposite. Kathi met with us, showed us the place, and explained all of the activities that came with childcare.  The Ligonier YMCA offers much much more than childcare. Not only do they keep the children safe while the parents work they engage them in constructive activities, such as swimming lessons and basketball and preschool. The next thing Kathi did was offer me a scholarship.  I enrolled my son Blaine that day.  Kathi started him that next week not knowing if I would even be able to pay. She then worked out a discount. Blaine enjoys swimming and field trips and basketball.  Many days I go pick him up and he is more upset to leave than he was when I left him that morning.  The Ligonier Y not only is safe active environment for my son, he has also learned and grown in ways that he probably never would have with a baby-sitter.  He has always been a fairly independent child but since he has been attending preschool at the Y, he has been even more so. At age three he now dresses himself in the morning and makes his own breakfast without being asked to do so and without any help.  Over the weekend, we drove back to Ohio to see my parents, a four hour drive.  During this trip, Blaine asked for a pen and paper, he wanted to write words his teachers had taught him.  He then proceeded to ask me how to spell several short words and attempted to write them. Surprisingly, when I looked at the paper at the end of our trip, some of the letters were legible.  The childcare staff has surpassed my expectations ten-fold.  Blaine’s confidence level in trying new things is also much improved, as is his tenacity in accomplishing difficult tasks.

Paula Maniago