Why Nicole, 25
ensured her community stayed strong during COVID-19
FEATURE ARTICLE WINTER 2020
One word: community. I have worked
with large groups of people in every job
I’ve pursued in my adult life, so
community is a concept that is pretty
familiar to me. But never have I been
more conscious of the monumental
impact of community than over the past
two months.
There is currently so much uncertainty
arising in every aspect of my life, and
whilst I consider myself a problemsolver,
news that I along with over
5,000 staff at the Y, were sadly being
stood down in March, left me asking
more questions than I could soundly
figure out the answers to.
Despite this, the one thing I knew for
sure was that I wanted desperately to
keep constant my connection to
community.
In my final two days of work before my
stand down period began, my colleague
and I worked tirelessly to create a
calendar of initiatives to run every
weekday for three weeks straight, all
events with very specific focuses on
promoting connectedness, wellness and
introspection for our volunteers.
Through developing these initiatives, my
colleague and I came to a similar
realisation; that regardless of whether we
were working or not, the community we
are a part of deserves to be nurtured
wholeheartedly in every circumstance,
regardless of how out-of-our-control
circumstances may seem.
It has been so beautiful watching the
young people get around the initiatives
we created over the past week. We saw
volunteers run a number of initiatives
including cooking classes, selfdiscovery
sessions, online gaming
tournaments, breakfast clubs, and yoga
classes. Now, as each week draws to a
close, I have a number of volunteers
who reach out, wanting to run new
initiatives to contribute to their
community even further and build on
that point of connection.
I feel so grateful for the position I am
in, working closely with volunteers
whose nature it is to give, no matter
what. There is so much uncertainty
and uneasiness everywhere at the
moment, but to know that my
community cannot falter in the face of
change brings me so much hope.
My spirit has been completely lifted,
watching the impact that a point of
connection can create for people and
MY COMMUNITY IS SEWN
TOGETHER BY A LARGE GROUP
OF INSPIRED YOUNG PEOPLE
how this can cause a ripple effect on
motivation and action.
Whilst many questions still remain
unanswered, the one thing I know for
sure is that my community is sewn
together by a large group of inspired
young people and we will all carry on
with what we have learnt through those
programs to create that same sense of
acceptance, care and hope in whatever
space needs it most.
An illustration by Nicole during one of her online illustration tutorials for young people p
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YMCA HEALTHY LIVING MAGAZINE