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| DPU Employee Erika Tedder with daughter Olivia. |
Last week, my daughter Olivia and I were spotlighted at the YMCA Gala benefit. This is
a huge charity event that we attend every year to help raise money for the YMCA
of Utah. We got up on the stage and spoke to a crowd of nearly 300 people including Mark Eaton,
Thurl Bailey, Jerry Sloan, Governor Herbert, and Gail Miller.
I attended Camp Roger
when I was a child, and wanted my daughter, Olivia, to have a similar opportunity to go to summer
camp as well. In the beginning, I was unable to afford to send her, but the
YMCA had a scholarship which we qualified for; I only had to come up with the
$50 registration fee and she was able to go. Ever since then, my daughter has attended Camp Roger every summer. She's now 15-years-old, and completed her seventh year
at Camp Roger, now in the Leaders in Training (LIT) session.
Affording the camp tuition was a yearly challenge for us, but the YMCA
always made funds available so Olivia did not have to be left out. There were some years when the YMCA
paid most of Olivia's tuition, and there were others when we were able
to pay it in full. Finally we were able to start giving a little extra to make
sure another child would have the opportunity to go. Each year, we have
volunteered for events to help give-back to the Y.
Then one day, the YMCA showed up in our neighborhood, at Olivia's school!
They were opening a Community Family Center that would organize activities, help
with homework, and provide supervision to children in the area. What a blessing
it was to have a safe place for Olivia to go to before and after school when I
was at work. Olivia always enjoyed her time there and developed relationships
that she still maintains today. One of the counselors at the Family Center was her LIT
counselor this year!
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| LIT Councelor, Olivia, and Erika Tedder at the YMCA gala. |
Olivia's experiences at the YMCA have enriched her character and given her some valuable skills in
life. She has gone on to be an Ambassador
for the Mundi Project, was awarded a piano and plays concerts for them, and was featured on Utah's Public Radio, KCPU, in February 2012. Olivia volunteer coached a soccer team of 1st graders over the summer, was the President of her school
Dance Company during the year, and was nominated for Homecoming Queen earlier this
month. All of Olivia's accomplishments can lead back to the confidence and
opportunities she gained from the YMCA. Olivia will be attending YMCA Camp Roger next year as a Counselor In Training (CIT), and has
aspirations of eventually becoming a counselor there.
Erika Tedder, DPU
Donation code: 7029
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