Hudson River Community Credit Union (HRCCU) announced today that it has made a donation of $10,000 to support the Glens Falls Area Youth Center (GFAYC) in its continued effort to provide a wide-variety of educational, recreational and life-skills programs for at-risk youth living in Warren, Washington and Saratoga Counties.
“HRCCU is proud to continue to support local high-impact youth centers that are shaping the lives of children and adolescents in the Capital District,” said HRCCU CEO Sue Commanda. “Our donation to the Glens Falls Area Youth Center reflects a decade-long commitment to youth programs that seek to enrich the lives of children and provide financial assistance to local families in need, ensuring everyone has access to critical developmental programs regardless of their ability to pay. This is just one more way, HRCCU is working to make life better for the communities we serve.”
What This Year’s Donation will Provide Support To
This year’s donation will be used to support the wide-variety of free programs and services that GFAYC offers to disadvantaged youth in the greater Glens Falls area. These programs include the Youth Center’s Health and Wellness Program, which helps kids become healthier physically, mentally, and emotionally, by fusing together a blend of recreation, life skills, and enlightenment.
“Many of our students are managing issues that can prevent them from thriving, like anxiety, depression, struggles with anger management, and food insecurity,” explained GFAYC Executive Director Molly Congdon-Hunsdon. “Thanks to HRCCU’s generous donation our Health and Wellness Program will be able to continue to help our students learn how to deal with their emotions by utilizing proper coping skills, providing food security and focusing on self-care as well as instilling the importance of empathy and compassion.”
Funds from the donation will also be used to support the Youth Center’s food program which serves after school snacks and dinner to students each day, provide hygiene supplies to families like deodorant and shampoo, and to help maintain and upgrade the recreational equipment within its facility.
Glens Falls Area Youth Center’s 2023 Goals
For 2023, Congdon-Hunsdon said the Youth Center is also working to provide additional Social Emotional Learning (SEL) opportunities for its children. She notes that SEL is increasingly important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Youth Center intends to utilize a portion of the funds to provide training opportunities in this area for its staff.
“These funds will greatly help the Glens Falls Area Youth Center in continuing our mission to bridge the gap between ambition and opportunity to break the generational cycle of poverty through our educational, recreational and life-skills programs,” said Congdon-Hunsdon.
HRCCU’s Ongoing Community Partnerships
Over the past 10 years, HRCCU has donated more than $200,000 to local youth centers in the Capital District. In addition to its on-going donations to GFAYC, it has also provided funding to other youth-centered programs including the Saratoga Regional YMCA Corinth Branch’s After School Enrichment Program, the Cohoes Community Center, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Capital Area. Donations have been used to purchase new equipment, provide meals, and deliver educational and developmental programs to local disadvantaged youth.
About Hudson River Community Credit Union
Hudson River Community Credit Union (HRCCU) is a not-for-profit financial cooperative whose mission is to make life better for its members. Anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school located within Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Rensselaer counties or the Towns of Cohoes, Watervliet or Green Island and their immediate families are eligible to join.
