Meet YMCA Child Care Family: Alberta & Aurora
Ask anyone juggling full-time work and parenthood—it's a lot to manage! For Alberta Ramirez and her family, the Missoula Family YMCA eases some of that stress by offering out-of-school programs that allow Alberta to work while her daughter, 7-year-old Aurora, is cared for in a safe, nurturing environment.
When Alberta and her partner, Jadrian, moved to Missoula five years ago, they quickly realized they needed care for their daughter.
"After moving here, we needed a safe place for Aurora to be during the day," explained Alberta. "Both my partner and I work full-time. While we do have some family in town, they're older, and so we started looking for consistent child care options."
That's where the Y stepped in. For the past three years, Alberta has turned to the Y for a variety of programs including summer camp, soccer, swim lessons, and after school.
"I first enrolled Aurora in KinderKubs, the Y's summer camp for four and five year olds," said Alberta.
From there, Aurora dove into all sorts of Y activities. She learned to swim in the Y's pool and joined its youth soccer league. For Alberta, the Y's had a tremendous impact not just on Aurora, but on Alberta and Jadrian's ability to work, especially during COVID-19.
"The Y really supported us during the pandemic," said Alberta. "My partner is a line supervisor at Alcom over in Bonner and I was working remotely from home. When schools switched to remote learning, I quickly realized it wasn't possible for me to both complete my work and help Aurora with her school assignments."
When Alberta learned about the Y's full-day enrichment programs to support students and families during COVID-19, she enrolled Aurora.
"The Y was set up to support Aurora during remote learning," she said. "It had laptops, counselors available to assist with homework, a sense of structure, and a great social environment for an only child. Aurora's school work got done at the Y and I was able to get my work done, too." Today, Aurora has just started second grade and is back in the classroom. However, Alberta still turns to the Y for support during out-of-school times.
"During the school year, we rely on YMCA After School and School's Out Day Camp," said Alberta. "Not only are the counselors great, but the hours are helpful because I can drop her off before 8:00 a.m. and pick her up until 6:00 p.m. It's little things like this that help families out in a big way."
"Aurora, Jadrian, and I are so grateful to the Missoula Family YMCA," she added. "We love being a part of the Y family, and I don't know what we'd do without it!"