Boosting Community Services to Help the Region Thrive
People of all racial and economic backgrounds should have the opportunity to access programs which hep them to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body. The YMCA of the Roses is steadfast in its mission to help Lancaster and York County residents develop and practice the principles of faith, hope, love, honesty, respect, and responsibility.
Established in December of 2021 through a merger between the YMCA of York and York County and the Lancaster Family YMCA, the YMCA of the Roses is a joining of two independent YMCA associations to ensure everyone in the area can utilize the organization’s programming.
The Lancaster Family YMCA has a longstanding history, having been a part of the Lancaster community since 1854. York’s local YMCA also has an incredible legacy, dating back to its start in 1855. Now, as the YMCA of the Roses, the unified group is a membership-based organization serving infants through seniors by addressing community needs in childcare, affordable housing, youth and workforce development, health equity, youth sports, aquatics, and chronic disease prevention. The association serves 75,000 unique individuals annually.
Louis Appell, Jr. was a strident supporter of the YMCA, helping to ensure the organization’s longevity locally.
When the Powder Mill Foundation decides to fund a YMCA project, instant credibility in the philanthropic community is attained and other benevolent donors choose to participate. The Foundation has high expectations and requests must be thorough, organized, sustainable, relevant and based on community needs.
Larry M. Richardson, President & CEO
Most recently, the Powder Mill Foundation funded the YMCA’s TechRev building’s expansion into technology for the youth development program. The Foundation was a key funder of the initial vision of TechRev and its $1 million project to address the technology divide in the urban sector and bolster access to technology for youth and the underemployed and unemployed. With the Foundation’s recent contribution, the organization has renovated the building’s lower level and is assimilating the impactful community program, Young Thinkers of York, a technical robotics team made up of urban students, into the YMCA.
I have had the good fortune to have been at the YMCA for 30 years and therefore have been blessed with a great friendship and relationship with Mr. Appell. I learned what being ‘for community’ meant by Mr. Appell’s behavior, engagement, and support as I witnessed firsthand his contributions of time and resources to address urgent and emerging needs in our community. Mr. Appell would be greatly encouraged by the vision and plan of TechRev and its efforts in the urban core to create opportunities in the technology domain, addressing a great divide in a real, tangible manner.
Larry M. Richardson
