It has been a challenging year for the YMCA of Newfoundland and Labrador. The COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate effect on its locations in St. John's and Marystown, forcing the organization to lay off 170 employees and place every membership on hold.
"We went from a large organization full of people with lots of employees and steady recurring revenue to a very small group of staff remaining and no recurring revenue," said CEO Jason Brown, who now leads a team of less than 20 employees.
Despite this, the charitable organization is finding ways to continue to serve the public, and along the way it has come across new opportunities and is even gearing up to have some laid-off staff return to work.
"I had confidence from the beginning that the team would be able to put together some things to make sure that we could keep serving our communities, and I'm really pleased with the list of things that we're able to do right now, and we're very hopeful we can do more."
Distributing goods
It recently lined up a pair of projects with support from Food First NL and United Way NL to co-ordinate a program to transport food, medication and hygiene products to people on the Burin and Avalon peninsulas.
"We figured if we could use a portion of our existing buildings and also connect to the community in different ways with groups we are already working with, then we could help provide safe transportation options for the distribution of food, personal hygiene items and medication for people," said Brown, who expects that project will formally roll out in a matter of days.
Childcare services in Newfoundland and Labrador are now limited to essential workers. Brown said YMCA NL was recently contacted about taking in some children at the Ches Penny Family YCMA (the Marystown site does not offer childcare), and the organization is assessing how this will work.
"We have a long list of new requirements to follow to make sure that we're doing physical distancing and providing a healthy, safe place to work, with disinfectant and a screening process and a number of other actions we need to take," he said.
They expect to accommodate four children per classroom with one early childhood educator. That work is expected to start next week, and as a result YMCA NL plans to bring back anywhere from 35-40 workers.
Programs handled remotely
There are also a number of programs that rely on federal and provincial funding that YMCA NL can continue to handle remotely, including its business planning program, which is now in demand for business recovery services.
Another timely program helps seniors on the Avalon and Burin peninsulas access technology. Brown said they're noticing a higher demand for this service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Others now handled remotely involve computer training, youth employment, youth developing projects to meet community needs, international post-secondary student and temporary foreign worker support and the Enterprise Olympics for students sharing business ideas. Brown expects the latter will be launched soon.
"Our staff are reporting that they're very busy," he said. "The business planning program is one example where, when this all started, we were supporting nearly 60 entrepreneurs in developing their business, and we're actually responding to new demand for business recovery services. We're talking with the funders of that particular program about expanding it and hiring a couple of more business consultants to help with the workload."
Once businesses start reopening and YMCA facilities do the same, Brown expects the provincial economy — which he notes was already having its issues before the pandemic — will leave some of its members unable to afford to come back.
"We were noticing a higher need for financial assistance for people to participate as YMCA members or to engage childcare or day-camp programs," he said. "The YMCA doesn't turn people away for inability to pay their fees. What we're anticipating when this is over, discretionary spending is something that there will be even less of in our communities. We need to find a way to respond to that, because we also know that when this is over, our communities will need us more than ever."
@CBNAndrew
