4. 33 Outwater Lane YMCA Building
The Garfield Y celebrated its 85th year anniversary in April 2010, which has 4 locations throughout Garfield. 33 Outwater Lane, which we are passing now is our Main Branch, has been in operation for 85 years, and despite its age is not only a cornerstone of the community, is a vital facility with all ages in and out all day. From child care programs to sr. citizens, all who come to the Y can find something to do.
This particular facility was the branch that instituted the walk to school program as part of the before school program.
The school sites are part of the program and parents drop their children off here. There were many obstacles to overcome for this program-in particular the perception of safety (even physical.)
The Y had to be diligent in ensuring the parents that not only do studies show walking to school helps children perform better throughout the academic day, even children who suffer from asthma do better with physical exercise to help expand the lungs. The Y purchased wagons for the children to put their back packs in to assure the parent that the children didn’t have to carry heavy back packs to school. This was a valid concern on the parents as studies do show that prolonged heavy back pack carrying (especially ill fitting bags) do lead to poor posture and shapes a child’s stance..
This facility was also the site for the Healthy U kick off from Blue Cross Blue Shield that offers the CATCH Initiative. The garden out front is plentiful in the summer with not only fresh fruits and vegetables, beautiful flowers as well. Preschoolers and campers help with the planting of the garden. Our harvest includes tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers. The harvest is shared with the children and their families, used in cooking programs and left overs are displayed in our lobby and are usually sold for less than a dollar to our members.fact lead to poor posture and shapes a child’s stance. Some other facts for our Y include:• Service area: Garfield, Saddle Brook, Elmwood Park, Lodi, Wallington, FairLawn, Passaic and Clifton
• Taught 435 preschool age children how to swim this year
• Taught 1420 school age children how to swim this year
• Provide preschool programs for 110 working families a day
• Provide afterschool programs and vacation camps for 150 children per day
• Help adults maintain a healthy lifestyle from diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol issues by providing an opportunity to participant in one of our classes or attend our fitness center
• Opened new 9,000 square ft fitness center for the community located at 70 Outwater Lane on the second floor.
• Host many community service programs such as Blood Drives, Family Community Day held at 20th Century Park, Movies under the Stars, Food Drives, Christmas help to needy families with food and gifts, Halloween Events, Healthy Kids Day, 5 K run, swim-a-thons.
• Have two pools one located at 33 Outwater Lane and the other 490 Midland Ave. Offering aquatic programs that teach swim lessons to all ages, exercise classes in the water; including the Arthritis Foundation’s Aquatic Program, and competitive swimming on our swim team.
• 183 Enrolled Silver Sneakers Members who make up our Active Older Adults. 45 class participants in our Silver Sneakers Classes that run 5 days a week with yoga, strength and range of motion and an aquatics class all geared towards engaging senior citizens in exercise.
• Scholarship provided to families that live in our service area to participate in programs or child care to ensure families that their children are taking care of while they have to work. Scholarship dollars that are given out annually range from $10,000 to $25,000.
And lastly, for a bit of trivia, or older sauna at 33 Outwater Lane was visited by popular HBO TV series “The Soprano’s” to shoot a scene of Tony Soprano. It was unfortunately not selected because the episode required a steam room, and our Y has a dry sauna.