Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery is partnering with The Gateway Family YMCA – Rahway Branch to provide funding for the Rahway Branch Specialized Arts Inclusive Learning (SAIL) Program. “We are grateful to the Bayway Refinery for their dedication to our community and their support of our YMCA and the families in our specialized arts programs,” stated Krystal R. Canady, CEO of The Gateway Family YMCA, “Providing this program in Rahway and the surrounding areas fills a need directly reflected in our needs assessment survey completed during recent facility renovations, creating expanded access to arts education.”
Introduced in Summer 2015, the YMCA has continued to offer a unique Specialized Arts Inclusive Learning (SAIL) program throughout the 2015-2016 school year to students from the Jardine Academy, an approved private school of the New Jersey Department of Education, operated by the Cerebral Palsy League, and accredited through The Middle States Association. The Rahway Branch is also working in partnership with the Paper Mill Playhouse to provide the YMCA’s Theatre in Motion program for special needs children, ages 7-21, and their families. Additionally, the YMCA also plans to begin training with the Matheny Medical and Education Center to develop a digital art component to the SAIL program similar to Matheny’s Arts Access program. Arts Access utilizes trained facilitators and adaptive technology to provide participants, dealing with a vast array of disabilities, with the means and capability to create unique works of art that solely display the vision of the artist.
The YMCA is working with Matheny staff to duplicate this program, on a modified scale, to offer at the Rahway Branch.
The Y is a positive force in the community. From tackling the achievement gap to teaching healthy habits for a lifetime or giving people the chance to strengthen our community through volunteering; everything the Y does is in the service of building a better us. “We rely on the support of the community to enable us to continue to provide the services our neighbors so greatly need,” stated Melynda A. Mileski, EVP/COO of The Gateway Family YMCA, “Our donors, members, volunteers, supporters and staff demonstrate the power of what we can achieve by giving back together. With the support of our community partners and our Annual Support campaign donors, we take on the most urgent needs in our community and inspire a spirit of service in everyone we touch. Our Y is, and always will be, dedicated to building healthy, confident, connected and secure children, adults, families, and communities.”
(above) Derek Chiao, Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery Engineer and YMCA Board Member, along with Mary Phillips, Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery Community Relations Coordinator presented the $5,000 donation to Krystal R. Canady, Chief Executive Officer, Melynda Mileski, Executive Vice President/COO, Rodger Koerber, Rahway Branch Executive Director, and Lara Kennedy, Arts Director at The Gateway Family YMCA – Rahway Branch, 1564 Irving Street, Rahway.
