The 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month from
February 2010 until the end of May 2010
(Check here for cancellations due to weather,
conflicts with the YMCA schedule, etc.)
12:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
The YMCA of East Hartford, 770 Main Street, East Hartford, CT
12:30-12:45................................ Arrival and Organization
For every session, I will greet families at the entry
"hall" table and collect waiver forms from the new
families. (If you already have a form on file at the "Y,"
you do not need to submit any additional forms unless
you need to make changes to your original form.) If you
arrive after 12:45, extra waiver forms will be
available on the table. Be sure to complete one and
leave it on the table. Families will not be able to
participate in the "Y" days without having a signed
12:30-2:00.................................... Teen Center (all ages)
Please keep in mind that the teen center is
NOT child-proofed. You are ultimately responsible
for your own children's activities. Feel free to bring
toys for your child(ren) to play with in the teen center.
There are tables and chairs for children to be able
to play board games. While I will bring some games,
you may want to bring your own favorite games.
12:30-1:15......................................... Open Gym (11+yo)
During the open gym time for the older children, the
younger children may either participate in the
This will allow time for the older children to be able to use
the full gym for activities that may take up the entire gym
space (e.g., full-court basketball, dodgeball, etc.).
1:15-2:00....................................... Open Gym (all ages)
During the open gym time for all ages, the
older children will need to limit their play to
half-court activities. Please bring your own sports
equipment. You may also want to bring water bottles
12:45-may vary............... Home's Cool Club Activity (5-10yos)
Participation is optional. Children younger than 5 and older
than 10 are welcome at the parent's discretion. During the
initial organization of each session, I will determine if there
will be one, two, or three activity meetings that day (the
activity will be the same for each meeting). The number of
participants who attend that week will determine how many
activity meetings will be held since the meeting room capacity
is 24. If there is one activity meeting, it will take place from
12:45-1:15. If there are two activity meetings, they will be
held from 12:45-1:15 and 1:25-1:55. If there are three
activity meetings, they will be held from 12:45-1:05,
1:15-1:35, and 1:45-2:05.
2:00-2:15................................... Clean-up and departure
The "Y" has regularly scheduled activities that begin at
2:30, so we need to make sure we are leaving the parking
lot by 2:15 to avoid parking trouble for the incoming traffic.
Every family who attends must sign a liability waiver form (the parent signs the form on behalf of him/herself and all his/her children who are attending, including infants). Please print out and sign the waiver form and bring it with you. You only need to have one form on file with the "Y." If you need to make changes to the form, you will need to submit a new form. If you forget to bring the form with you, I will have some available at the facility, but it will save time if you bring your signed form with you. You will need to download a free copy of Adobe Reader to read the waiver form if your computer does not already have the capability of reading .PDFs.
At least one parent needs to volunteer to monitor the teen center and another to monitor the gym during each session. If a parent does not volunteer for each room, the room(s) without parental coverage will not be used. If a parent is willing to volunteer her/his math tutoring services (for free) to students who use online log-in math programs (no CDs), we can use the computer room. If no parent volunteers for this, we will not use the computer room.
I have been asked whether or not there will be rotation sign-ups for room monitor duty. I would like to see how things go without doing sign-ups. My reason for this is simple. I want families to feel free to come or not come to each session, without having the added worry of letting someone down because they were signed up for monitor duty and they suddenly can't come at the last minute. I really don't anticipate there will be a lack of room monitor coverage. In fact, since more hands make for lighter work, I am anticipating there will be multiple coverage for each room (with the possible exception of the computer room for math tutoring). If this turns out to be an issue and some parents feel they are being over-relied on each session in this regard, then I will have sign-ups so the load is more evenly spread out.
Keep in mind also that parents are ultimately responsible for monitoring their own children's behavior. So, please help make the job of the room monitor volunteers easier by making sure your own children are behaving and treating each other respectfully (no cursing allowed), not recklessly fooling around, not running around in/lingering in the halls, etc. The room monitor volunteers will mainly be used to help out those parents who will simultaneously have children in more than one room, and so obviously can't be watching them all at the same time.
There are approximately 30-35 parking spaces available at the "Y." There is a group that meets at the "Y" before us. I have purposely chosen 12:30 as our beginning time to give that group enough time to clear out of the parking lot before we start arriving. If parking is ever an issue, you will need to get permission from an area business/facility to see if they will permit you to use their parking lot. (There are a library and town hall down the street that you can check with, as well as other businesses.) Neither the "Y" nor I are responsible for any actions resulting from you parking at an off-site parking lot. If parking becomes an ongoing issue, I will need to start taking program registrations. I am hoping to avoid that in order to give families the freedom of showing up at the last minute. I will see how things are going before making a decision on this.
The "Y" is generously permitting us to use their facility without a charge. In deep gratitude for their generosity, and in order to not take that generosity lightly, I will place a "donation" box in the gym for families to donate any amount they feel called to donate. This is a free-will offering, so any family that cannot afford to make a donation should not feel pressured to do so.
If you can afford to make a donation and you would like to show your thanks to the "Y" for their generosity, you can choose to make a donation by check made payable to the East Hartford YMCA. If you make any donations by check, the "Y" will be able to provide you with proof of your total donations at the end of the year for tax purposes. (The "Y" is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization.) Cash donations are also welcome, although the "Y" will be unable to track those individually for your personal tax purposes. The contents of the "donation" box will be given to the "Y" at the end of each session. The "Y" will allocate the donations to their financial assistance fund. (They hold an annual "Strong Kids Campaign" to help replenish this fund.)
Due to potential severe food allergies, please do not bring any food.
As I mentioned under "Parking" above, I prefer to see how things go at first without taking program registrations. This is to give parents the freedom of showing up at the last minute if that works better for their schedule. If this causes a problem due to lack of parking or overcrowding, I will need to change this policy and start taking registrations. Please be patient during the initial weeks of the program until I have a feel for how many people will typically be coming so that I can make a well-informed decision on this matter.
