Lunch with Leah event at the Staunton YMCA

Leah Boal, the national manager of affiliate programming for the Youth Volunteer Corps, will be hosting Lunch With Leah from noon-12:30 p.m at the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA Wednesday, July 10.

Lunch will be provided to all parents and guardians of kids aged 11-18 who RSVP by Wednesday morning.

Per the YVC Website (yvc.org), “ Youth Volunteer Corps is a non-profit service organization operating throughout the United States and Canada that was created to introduce, encourage, and support the spirit of volunteerism in youth ages 11 to 18 through consistent, well-organized volunteer opportunities.”

After the informational session, the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA affiliate will do a community service project at 1:00 p.m. at the Valley Mission Wednesday. The group will also do a project with Project Grows at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, or with the Staunton Public Library if it rains out the Project Grows service opportunity.

In 2019, the national YVC challenged the Staunton-Augusta affiliate to reach the following statistics by the end of August 2019:

• Work with 100 different students in the YVC program
• Complete 35 projects
• Reach a total of 400 combined volunteer hours

Nearing almost all of its goals, the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA’s YVC affiliate group is hoping to hit some of its annual markers while Boal is in town. Currently, the group is at:

• 93 different student volunteers
• 377 combined service hours completed
• 32 projects completed.

To date, the YVC group has volunteered with Ride With Pride, The Cinderella Project, Opportunity is Knocking, the Staunton-Augusta Art Center, Thomas McSwain Elementary and several other organizations. The group is always looking for more non-profit organizations who have areas where kids can provide service, and more students to participate. To this point, students from Shelburne Middle School, Staunton High School, Wilson Memorial High, Stuart Hall, Fort Defiance and the homeschool community have participated. The program is free. Students do not need to be members of the YMCA to participate.