As we approach the holiday season and reflect on this year of change our gratitude runs deep. We are grateful for you, our donors, our participants, our staff, and our broader community. Your support has made an incredible impact on the way we serve our community, and we know that you are part of the YWCA because you believe in our mission.This year the support of our YWCA family has allowed us to meet the needs of our community. During the onset of COVID-19 this spring we quickly pivoted our child care center to serve the families of front-line workers that had to work. At the same time, we partnered with MANNA Food Bank, providing food at Community Markets and delivering it to families in under-served neighborhoods hit hard by the pandemic.This summer, following the murder of George Floyd, we marched with you, our neighbors, and spoke up publicly as we demanded action with partner organizations. Together we created a unified voice loud enough to put Asheville at the forefront of the reparations movement nationwide. We are grateful for the over 700 community members that have leaned into the conversation and registered for our 21-Day Challenge on racial equity and social justice in August and chose to have those hard conversations with their friends, family, and community.This fall, we are again grateful for your support as we opened school-age classrooms for remote learners whose parents must continue working. We’ve continued to offer Empowerment Child Care for A-B Tech students, the Family Justice Center, and drop-in care for children whose parents are pursuing education, job training, or access to vital social services and need a safe, nurturing environment for their children while they do so. We engaged members of our community to register to vote and later provided over 16 trips to early voting with our very own YWCA bus and staff volunteers. We did all of this while holding our Getting Ahead and Mother Love programs virtually and adjusting the way we operate our Fitness Center and Aquatics Department for safe delivery of their services.Now, we close the year with a new addition to our leadership. We are excited to welcome Diana Sierra as interim CEO. Her longtime experience with the YWCA and her background with social services offered in Buncombe County has allowed her to hit the ground running. We are poised and prepared to continue offering critical services to our community.We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you for your continued support.__YWCA is on a mission. For 113 years, we have been at the forefront of movements for social justice, freedom, and equality.Love our work?Donate Today