Healthy Living

The Alliance partnered with AARP North Carolina in 2019 on a “tactical urbanism” project in Southport, NC, where volunteers created temporary crosswalks and bike lanes with chalk and paint and created a small “parklet.” 

Community health partnerships are the cornerstone of two new North Carolina YMCAs: the Foundation YMCA of Wilson and the new Phifer Family YMCA in Morganton.

North Carolina YMCAs provided nearly 2.5 million meals to children, adults and seniors in 2021 to fight food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19. In addition, YMCAs donated more than 640,000 pounds of food, including 430,000+ pounds of fresh, healthy produce, to nourish those in need. 

Fighting Food Insecurity: 2021 Bright Spots The YMCA of Western North Carolina’s nutrition team runs multiple mobile markets in five counties every month, providing free food to all community members. The markets provide fresh produce paired with healthy recipes and activities, such as cooking demonstrations.

Despite COVID-19 challenges, the YMCA of the Triangle served 525 medical members during year 2 of the three-year Medical Membership pilot.

The J.F. Hurley Family YMCA in Salisbury partnered with Novant Health to provide COVID-19 vaccinations at this Rowan-Cabarrus YMCA branch initially through May and extended this through August.

North Carolina Alliance of YMCAs tests efficacy of health protocols, identifies bright spots with low case ratesIn 1,008,561 visits to 96 YMCA locations across North Carolina in December and January, only 38 cases of COVID were reported to the YMCA—a positivity rate of .0038% compared to .0045% reported between September and November 2020.