News

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts is participating in the Five Days of Action, June 7-11, 2021. The Five Days of Action is a week designed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse.

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts encourages adults and organizations to join in marking this special week as Central Massachusetts comes together to make the community a safer place for children to live, learn, and play. As summer activities and camps begin to ramp up, June is the perfect time to bring attention to the simple ways we can all make the children in our community safer.

To that end, The YMCA of Central Massachusetts will be focusing on the simple steps of KNOW. SEE. RESPOND. to help adults better protect children. When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together, we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations about how we can all work together to prevent it from happening.

The YMCA of Central Massachusetts, with support from the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, YMCA of the USA, Darkness to Light, the Redwoods Group Foundation, Praesidium, and the Monique Burr Foundation for Children have made materials available to help adults learn more about preventing child sexual abuse.

For more information about preventing child sexual abuse visit www.fivedaysofaction.org.

Materials are derived from YMCA of the USA’s “Know. See. Respond.” copyrighted in 2020.

5 Days of Action Worksheets

Sample Activities

Being a Trusted Adult

Who is a Trusted Adult?

Family Code of Conduct

Internet Safety

Materials are derived from YMCA of the USA’s “Know. See. Respond.” copyrighted in 2020.

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

• One in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18^th
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser.
• Approximately 30% of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members.
• 60% of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone.
• False reports are rare. Research shows that only 4 to 8% of child sexual abuse reports are fabricated.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU BELIEVE A CHILD IS BEING ABUSED – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

• You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion means that you have witnessed maltreatment or boundary violations, either in the child or adult, or both. Or, you have received a disclosure from a child about abuse, neglect, or boundary violations towards them.
• Child sexual abuse reports should be made to the police and/or state child protective services.
• Contact the Darkness to Light Helpline at 866-FOR-LIGHT or text LIGHT to 741741 to have questions answered by trained counselors at no charge.

About Darkness to Light

Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.

About Redwoods Group Foundation

The Redwoods Group Foundation supports programs that can change the world and helps them reach more people than ever before, through funding and backbone support. We currently focus on child sexual abuse prevention, drowning prevention, and growing the field of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.redwoodsgroup.com/about-us/redwoods-group-foundation.

About Praesidium

Praesidium specializes in preventing sexual abuse in organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults. Over a period in excess of 25 years, the company has reviewed over 4,000 cases of abuse within organizations to determine the root causes of sexual abuse within organizational settings. Praesidium employs more than 40 staff, including licensed social workers, lawyers, psychologists, health care researchers, and other experts. The company has served over 5,000 clients with a broad range of products and services to aid organizations in preventing abuse, including online and instructor‐led trainings; organizational risk assessments; model policies and incident investigations. Having trained more than one million people online and hundreds of thousands in person, Praesidium is the largest and most comprehensive sexual abuse risk management firm globally. For more information, visit https://website.praesidiuminc.com/wp/

About the Monique Burr Foundation for Children

The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by providing the best comprehensive, evidence-based prevention education programs. MBF prevention programs educate and empower children and relevant adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to the four types of child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect), exploitation, bullying, cyberbullying, human trafficking, digital abuse, and other digital dangers. MBF is now a leader in prevention education with our programs having reached over 4.5 million children throughout Florida and the United States. For more information, visit https://www.mbfpreventioneducation.org 

YMCA of Central MA Child Protection Guidelines

YMCA of Central MA Child Safety Awareness Brochure

We are so excited to share that the Central Community Branch YMCA has been selected to be a part of the Stop & Shop Community Bag Program, which is designed to make it easy for customers to contribute to their local community while supporting the environment.

For the month of June, each time a $2.50 reusable Community Bag is purchased at the Stop & Shop located at 545 Lincoln Street, Worcester MA, $1 will be donated to the YMCA, unless otherwise directed by the customer through the Giving Tag. This is a great way to raise awareness, support the environment and fundraise for our cause.

Let’s get started! We can begin by spreading the news to our friends and family. Call, send emails, and post on social media. The more people who learn about the program and purchase the Community Bag during the month of June, the more money we will raise.

To learn more about this program, please visit: www.stopandshop.bags4mycause.com

Help us share the message! Right Click on the images below to “Save As”. Share on your social media channels!

FITCHBURG – Rollstone Bank & Trust has made a $25,000 donation to the YMCA of Central Massachusetts for its annual campaign. The donation is earmarked to provide scholarships for Fitchburg youth to attend Camp Lowe, according to an announcement by the bank.

“The YMCA is a valued organization that does so much good in our community and we’re proud to support them,” said Martin F. Connors Jr., president and CEO of Rollstone Bank & Trust. “Summer camps like Camp Lowe help kids develop new skills and create lifelong memories. As a Fitchburg-based bank, RBT is very happy we can provide this opportunity for children from Fitchburg.”

The YMCA’s Annual Campaign is the vehicle that provides direct financial assistance to children and families as well as subsidizes critical youth development programming like after school programming, summer camp and teen leadership initiatives. Connected by a shared vision, volunteers, members, mission partners and staff work together to raise philanthropic dollars to ensure the Y’s programs and services remain accessible to families in our community, according to the bank.

“Our Y remains steadfast in our mission to strengthen those who need us most,” said David Connell, president and CEO at the YMCA. “With the generous support of mission partners, like Rollstone Bank & Trust, families can count on us for affordable child care and summer camp experiences that nurture the social and emotional development of children.”

“In communities across the nation, the Y is a leading voice on health and well-being. With a mission centered on balance, the Y brings families closer together, encourages good health and fosters connections through fitness, sports, fun and shared interests,” said Ted McDonnell, North County Branch Director for the YMCA of Central MA. “As a result, millions of youth, adults and families are receiving the support, guidance and resources needed to achieve greater health and well-being for their spirit, mind and body.”

View the original article on www.sentinelandenterprise.com

With the donation are (from left): Jim Hohman, Member of Board of Directors of YMCA of Central MA; Martin F. Connors Jr., President and CEO of Rollstone Bank & Trust; Chelsea DeBettencourt (Camp Director); Ted McDonnell, YMCA North County Branch Director; David Connell, President and CEO – YMCA of Central MA.