Summer 2026

View as Webpage

BOB WARNOCK

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Greetings, fellow Lyon Chapter YMCA Alumni.

I attended the YMCA Alumni biennial "48 Hours" chapter presidents’ and board members’ meeting, which I missed the last time due to illness. It was a great meeting, and I was able to connect with many people I’ve only seen from the shoulders up on Zoom.

Among the great ideas discussed was what I think will be a wonderful spring 2027 event for our chapter along with the other two California chapters, Marston to the south and McCoy to the north. We are proposing a three-chapter “Hike California” event for next spring.

I’ve been in touch with my fellow chapter presidents, Judy Wurzbacher (Marston) and Lee Muckey (McCoy), and they love the idea. All three chapter boards are “on board.”

More details to follow once we’ve gotten into the planning process, but here’s the concept: We have national forests up and down the state, so individual members or groups from the same chapters pick one and walk/hike in the forest of their choice during the two weeks surrounding Memorial Day 2027. Record the miles you hike, and we’ll add them all up and see how many miles we can hike together.

That’s the general idea. Some of us vacation on Memorial Day in the forest, and the rest of us are close enough to the mountains to make it a day hike. Sounds like fun to me!

In the meantime, I hope to see many of you at Phyllis and Jim Murphy’s home on August 8 for our annual summer backyard party. Details are included in this newsletter.

Be well, all!

Bob

Bob Warnock, President

NATIONAL SERVICE PROJECT

FINISHING WITH A 'TWIG'

It has been almost a year since our waves of volunteers completed construction of the first four Tiny Homes in Dupree, South Dakota.

During that time, all four homes have become occupied by single-parent families, and two newborn babies have joined the population.

Through the efforts of the YMCA of the Seven Council Fires, these folks are learning the life skills needed to overcome multiple everyday obstacles and gaining the ability to successfully move back into the general population when their two-year rental agreements expire.

Following an article in the New York Times, an anonymous donor came forward to fund a fifth tiny home and add solar panels to all of the homes.

This brings us to the final phase of the National Service Project, the “Twig,” a small YMCA Program Branch in the remote community of La Plant. We are actively recruiting volunteers to help build this structure utilizing the shipping containers that we used for storage in our Tiny Home Village. This will be completed by the end of this year.

If you'd like to volunteer for the Twig construction, contact Gary Graham or Lee Muckey