Armed Services YMCA and DoD partner, provide support to military families

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WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The Armed Services YMCA announced Sept. 18, 2008, a new $31-million initiative with the Department of Defense to provide eligible military families and active duty personnel with access to youth development, family strengthening, and health and well-being programs through memberships at community YMCAs nationwide. 

Membership fees will be underwritten by the DoD and administered through Military OneSource. YMCA of the USA, the national resource office for America's 2,686 YMCAs, will help launch the initiative at Ys across the country.

The ASYMCA-DoD Outreach Initiative responds to a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, which requires the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to support military family readiness and to ensure that military family readiness programs and activities are available to all military families, including those of the National Guard and Military Reservists.

"YMCA of the USA is proud to partner with ASYMCA and DoD to ensure that our nation's military and their families have access to some of the best youth development, family strengthening, and health and well-being programs available at YMCAs in communities across this country," said Neil Nicoll, president and CEO of the YMCA of the USA. "Our YMCAs have the unique capability to provide families of deployed military service members with support that is generally only available to families who live near a military base."

The program is expected to serve more than 27,000 military families and active duty members.

"The YMCA and ASYMCA have a history of commitment to developing innovative programs that help military families lead healthy lives, improve personal and family relationships, become better leaders, strengthen positive values, and develop specific skills, while at the same time building a sense of community," said Frank Gallo, Rear Admiral, USN (Ret), national executive director for the ASYMCA. "Seldom has our support been as critical as it is today with active duty soldiers, National Guard, members of the reserve and their families under more strain than at nearly any time in our history."

Eligible participants can sign up by identifying a participating local YMCA on www.ymca.net during the month of October, providing proof of eligibility by showing a military identification card and a copy of deployment orders, and completing an eligibility verification form. Eligibility forms can be found at www.militaryonesource.com.

Those eligible to participate in the new initiative include:

* All interested families of joint deployed National Guard and Reserves;
* Active Duty families assigned to newly established Joint Bases created by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process;
* Active Duty Independent Duty station personnel (single or family members); and
* Relocated spouses and family members of deployed Active Duty personnel.

"There is no question -- deployed soldiers who know their families are well taken care of during deployment are better equipped to deal with its pressures," added Gallo. "This partnership between the DoD, YMCA of the USA and ASYMCA seeks to provide this support."

More information about the ASYMCA-DoD Outreach Initiative can be found by visiting www.asymca.org. For information about participating YMCAs, please visit www.ymca.net.