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In West Auckland, the Raise Up crew for 2014 was comprised of young people from a range of backgrounds, including representatives from five of the local high schools. One such young person is 15 year old Massey High School student, Jordan Matakatea, who has been part of the Raise Up Crew based at Massey for the last three years.

Read about Jordan's journey with RaiseUp and YMCA.

Conin Bowker has been working with YMCA Auckland since 2013, and in March he stepped into the role of Raise Up Coordinator based at Massey Leisure Centre managed by YMCA.  Prior to this appointment, he had helped with the Raise Up Crew for several years, particularly with their dance events.  Conin is also the Gymnastics Coordinator for YMCA Auckland.

From crew member to staff member read about Conin's journey in YMCA.

On February 10^th, there was a particular kind of excitement in the air around the Massey Leisure Centre managed by YMCA. It was the day that the NZ Breakers – yes, those Breakers, our biggest basketball superstars – were coming to visit.

Find out how YMCA is working with The Breakers to promote BreakerBall and get young kids in our communities active.

Starting school is an exciting time for any student, but it can also be pretty overwhelming. There’s different routines, bigger workloads, and new faces, which can be tough to handle for young children.

Find out how YMCA helped five-year-old Philip Wendt hit the ground running.

Juggling the finances is a tricky game for many families. Shannon Keane, the Centre Manager at YMCA Manurewa Early Learning Centre, has witnessed firsthand just how tough it can be for families. She’s on close terms with many of them, and likes to help from month to month, as she can, to ensure that the debt doesn’t pile up.

Find out how YMCA is working with BNZ to improve financial literacy in the Manurewa community.

If you're part of the YMCA Lynfield Family, you will have received a friendly "Hello" from Paul during one of your visits to our Centre.  

Paul is YMCA Lynfield's Centre Assistant and has been at the Centre for 16 years. He has earned himself a renowned reputation - there is no job he cannot do!  Paul's hard work, friendly nature and can-do attitude was widely recognized and rewarded by the YMCA Auckland, as he won the Annual "Star of the Year" award, going up against 700 staff members from 23 different Centres.

Star Awards are how the YMCA recognizes staff that goes above and beyond their call of duty and displays our core values in all they do. Our values are honesty, caring, respect and responsibility. Paul was greatly honored with the award during YMCA's AGM in October.

YMCA welcomed dogs of all shapes and sizes for a splash around in the outdoor pool at the Onehunga War Memorial Pool before they closed for winter.

Dogs and their people came from all around to spend the day having fun in the sun. While there was fabulous representation from the local Onehunga community, we also had a visitor from Tauranga come all the way up, just to have a really special day with his dog and new canine pals. Local councillor Denise Krum came along to see what we were up to, and Centre Manager Cameron Kerr brought his whole family along for the fun and festivities.

Find out how YMCA is engaging the fury and four legged members of our communities as well as their people.

We’ve all seen the literature around minimising children’s ‘screen time’, but many young Kiwis are still far exceeding the recommended ‘no more than two hours a day’ limit! The school holidays are especially challenging, with long days that drag on and on and televisions, computers and game consoles at the ready. 

Find out how YMCA teamed up with the Ministry of Social Development to deliver Breakaway, a fully funded programme that both encourages and provides physical activity.

David Rasmussen almost died several years ago, a story his fellow gym users know well. With a cheerful, open attitude, David is more than happy to tell anyone about this experience, as well as how he was saved by doctors, who gave him a second heart – and a new chance at life.

Find out how David is making the most of his new life at Lynfield Leisure Centre.

Despite being 70 years old, busy with work commitments, and running around after the grandkids, Glenda finds the time to pop into Lagoon Pool and Leisure Centre, managed by YMCA.

Proving that age is no barrier, find out how Glenda Cullen has managed to row over one million metres!

As a nation surrounded by water, swimming and aquatic fun are virtually a kiwi rite of passage. At YMCA Auckland, we believe that anyone can swim, and for the last two years Helen Vann has been on a mission to prove it.

Find out how YMCA is making sure that people of all abilities have the chance to enjoy the water.

Go down to the Lagoon Pool and Leisure Centre, and you’ll probably find Janet Lewis swimming laps. She’s been a regular face in the swimming pools every week since 1974. Not only is that an incredible dedication to her favourite sport, what’s even more remarkable is that Janet didn’t actually know how to swim until she was 28 years old.

Find out how swimming at Lagoon Pool has changed in the last 40 years