About Us
Here you will find valuable information about our Greater Long Beach Y Service Club, as well as links to the US Area and International Y Service Clubs. You will especially learn about the exciting and dynamic activities of our clubs programs and services.
You are joining a club which works, thinks and plays in an atmosphere of SERVICE IN ACTION….. Yes, it means something to be a club member — at least five things:
First, it means to be an idealist. Unselfishness is a character that is most important as a member of a Y Service Club.
Second, it means to be loyal to the YMCA. It is an association of persons with the belief that individual effort can help to change the world. Service to youth is a prime concern.
Third, it means to be world minded. Around the world, Y Service club members are working quietly and earnestly towards a goal of international and interracial justice for all people.
Fourth, it means “to acknowledge the duty that accompanies every right”. Our motto is a constant challenge to us to pay less attention to the protection of our rights and more heed to the discovery and discharge of their corresponding duties.
Fifth, it means to be enthusiastically active. A club member gives time and energy to the serious work of the club.
Our Work
Christmas Stocking for Single Marines
Auction Gifts for YMCA
Staffing Fireworks Stand
Sponsor Chalk Art Contest
Our Gatherings
Monthly Meetings
US Area Conventions
Regional Conference
Regional Convention
Local & International Projects
Time of Fast
Roll Back Malaria
Dollars for Scholars - Alexander Scholarship Fund
YMCA Annual Support
Our History
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
The era of the “Roaring Twenties” post-World War I, known as a time of excess and unprecedented progress, was also conversely an incubator for increased civic awareness and accountability. With the awakening of the social conscious came the rise of the modern service organization.
Within the Toledo YMCA, a young program director, noticing an increase in both time and monetary donations to the YMCA, identified 15 young businessmen working within the YMCA as volunteers and two staff members to start a service club to support actively, extraneously and in new ways the work of the YMCA. In 1920, the Tolymca luncheon club was formed under the direction of young lawyer, Paul William Alexander. By November 1922, word of the initiative had spread to other YMCAs in the USA and 17 clubs existed. The International Association of Y’s Men’s Clubs was officially founded, in Alexander’s words, “of and for the YMCA”
SEPARATE YET TOGETHER
The association (familiarly known as Y’s Men International) and its clubs, officially separate from the YMCA with its own constitution and officers, gradually began to engage in independent projects. Their activities, while still mindful and respectful of the YMCA’s mission, were no longer directly connected or controlled by any specific branch or national movement. Clubs without any direct connection to the YMCA started to be formed. But the intention always remained that the activity of these clubs was to be representative and supportive of the YMCA’s goals and agenda. Ideally, Y’s Men clubs chartered without an associated YMCA would strive to bring a YMCA branch to their community, and clubs founded where there were YMCAs would have a YMCA “secretary” as a member or an appointed YMCA liaison to build cooperation. In various places, YMCA Secretary remains an active position on the roster of club officers