Free YMCA memberships offered to Pomona Unified faculty, staff

The head of the YMCA of Pomona Valley attended Wednesday evening's Pomona Unified School District board meeting to announce it would extend free four-month memberships to district faculty and staff.

The memberships will take effect Oct. 15 and will entitle the YMCA member to activities such as aerobics, yoga or swimming, said Jane Taylor, executive director of the YMCA of Pomona Valley.

One of the thing the YMCA is doing across the country is to help improve the overall healthy living of different communities, Taylor said Friday.

The organization has giving special attention to children and to combating childhood obesity, she said.

But adults need attention, too, Taylor said.

In the case of the district, cutbacks mean this will be a tough year for faculty and staff who work with children and teens. Giving them memberships to the YMCA ensures faculty and staff have a resource so they can take care of themselves and are healthy, she said.

"Those adults have a very important impact on kids lives," Taylor said.

They have to be in good health in order to be able to help their students, she said.

Plans are in the works to provide such memberships in the future to other organizations, Taylor said.

"We're starting with PUSD because they are directly impacting the well-being of kids," she said.