It’s good to give to the YMCA

Sing it with me now: ♫ It’s good to give to the YMCA! ♫

Arm gestures and sense of exuberance encouraged.

I’ve not been shy about everything that my family and I get from our association with the YMCA. We’ve been to two camps in two seasons — the Estes Park Center YMCA in the summer and Snow Mountain Ranch in the winter. Several times a week I enjoy classes in fitness, dance and yoga at the Y near me. I’ve made friends there; it’s a community. My children have made friends, too, as they rotate through various sports activities throughout the year.

How your children’s stuffed animals can provide comfort to traumatized kids around the world

One day before a 7.0 earthquake laid waste to Haiti last year, a shipment of humanitarian aid, including 450 stuffed animals, cleared customs in Port-au-Prince.

Pure coincidence, but the timing couldn’t have been better, says Wendy Clark, the Littleton woman who founded Loving Hugs Inc., the Colorado nonprofit organization that sent the toys.

During the earthquake’s aftermath, as adult attention focused on food, shelter and clean water, members of the U.S. military and aid workers handed out the toys to frightened children.

As Clark knows, there is some measure of comfort in a