NWIGives day highlighted non-profits across the region February 12, bringing attention to the impact these organizations leave on their respective communities. Every group celebrated in a different fashion- for the La Porte County Family YMCA, it was a day of festivities, beginning at 5 am, stretching to midnight.
The YMCA opened its doors to the entire community for the day, free of charge. “We feel everyone deserves a chance to utilize the Y,” stated Vanessa Maher, Marketing Director at the YMCA. People were invited to celebrate with free snacks, healthy living classes, a photo booth, story booth, and more! Even the Preschool class joined in with a special presentation from La Porte Fire Chief Snyder on fire safety.
“Our focus is on NWIGives day, but more importantly, we invited people like Fire Chief Snyder to come out and teach children about fire safety,” shared Maher. “It really promotes our focus on social responsibility and providing children an access to a learning environment to grow, learn, and thrive, and become successful members in the community.”
Students of preschool teacher Sandy Stefanko gathered around Chief Snyder to share what they knew about fire safety and learn some new information in the process. Snyder kicked off his presentation by discussing smoke alarms, demonstrating the noise the detector makes. “If you have a fire in your house and you hear that thing going off, you get out of that house,” he emphasized. “Don’t stop to do anything, get out of that house! Once you get outside, you can go somewhere and call 911.”
Snyder continued his presentation by asking the children to demonstrate Stop, Drop, and Roll, as well as continuing to emphasize that the first step when experiencing a fire is to get away, including getting low to the ground if the air is too smoky.
The most exciting part of the presentation came when Snyder brought out the gear he wears when battling a fire. “If you can’t get out of a house that’s on fire, you look for this guy. This is your best buddy in a fire,” he stated. “All of my skin is covered- that’s why I can go into a fire and you can’t.”
The preschoolers were very excited to see Snyder in full gear and declared that he was not scary at all, an opinion that Snyder is eager for all kids to share. "The fire safety is aimed really hard at showing kids what a firefighter looks like in full gear because there have been a number of fires across the country where kids could have been saved but they got afraid of the firefighter coming in, and went and hid under the bed or in a closet and were never found. That’s one of the highlights we try to do from now on,” he said.
“I think it’s important that children know what to do,” stated Stefanko. “Getting out is the important part. It’s vital, it could save their lives and the lives of their family too. We’ve talked about this on a regular basis but I don’t have the tools, I have pictures. It’s not the same.”
“It’s important to get all aspects and with the availabilities we have here at the YMCA and being able to partner with those in the city, it’s great,” shared Joy Zigler, Marketing Assistant at the YMCA. “They are just as concerned about the education of youth as we are. It’s all about social responsibility and youth development and that’s what we partner with them to do. It’s great having Chief Snyder here to show the kids and teaching them not to be afraid and to know what to do. We love that they’re willing to do that for us.”
For those interested in helping to continue programs such as the Preschool class, donations to the scholarship fund are appreciated. Donations can be made online here or by stopping in at the YMCA!