Help
Giving Back
My Account
We’re giving over $1 million in 2020 to priority nonprofit partners whose services have become more critical than ever amid COVID-19. Learn how we’re making a difference together and how you can help.
This series highlights each of the priority nonprofit partners we’re supporting throughout these difficult times. We previously highlighted the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Heating Energy Assistance Team Inc. (HEAT). Now, let’s look at the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, a nonprofit organization open to serving all through programs and services that help build spirit, body and mind.
With daycare and school closures, many adjusted to the new norm of balancing full-time parenting and working from home full-time. Nurses, first responders and many more continued to report for work. Earlier this year, Gas South committed $1 million to ease the pandemic’s impact on our community, including $150,000 to the YMCA of Metro Atlanta to provide childcare for essential workers at club locations across the metro Atlanta area.
As families struggle to adjust to the “new normal,” the YMCA’s services have become critical for many, especially those with childcare needs. With the mandatory closing of its branches in mid-March, the YMCA transitioned six of its 24 Atlanta locations into help centers to provide meals for those in need and childcare support for first responders and frontline workers. In the first two months of operation, these programs served over 1,500 children. In addition, the YMCA launched Operation R.E.A.C.H, an initiative designed to connect with and engage seniors and high-risk groups needing resources and support to keep them connected and healthy.
Considering the growing need for childcare support due to COVID-19 and the essential services the YMCA has provided, our $150,000 donation is five times greater than what we gave in 2019. In terms of the tangible impact created by the donation, our contribution funded one of the YMCA’s childcare centers, providing nearly 500 hours of high-quality childcare for children in our Atlanta community.
“The support of Gas South enables the YMCA to truly deliver on our promise of service to those who turn to us for community and those who turn to us for survival,” said Lauren Koontz, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metro Atlanta.
For more information about the YMCA of Metro Atlanta and the different opportunities to give back and get involved, please visit their website.
