Sherry's fundraiser for the 2024 Annual Campaign for the Washington University Campus YMCA
Sherry Taylor is raising money for Gateway Region Young Mens Christian Association
Story
I am asking for a gift for the Campus Y at Washington University because the Y is important to me!
The Campus Y is dedicated to being a student-centered organization with the intent of developing ethical student leaders with a focus on community service. The Campus Y students continue to be leaders on campus and out in the St. Louis community.
I was nudged into volunteering during my freshman year at the Campus Y by a political science professor, Professor Caspary, who required community service as a part of his class. I started out tutoring for a program called High School Tutorial at University City High School. From then on, the Campus Y became my home for the remainder of my college years. It was the first place I was given leadership training and responsibilities. I volunteered with several other programs and served on the student-governing boards (Base-Cabinet and Cabinet). I was lucky enough to be at the Y during the Helen Davis years. She was an inspiration pushing Y students to strive for inclusion and social justice. Bartie Jones worked there in those days as well, and she had the most welcoming smile and laugh.
I was asked to serve on the Campus Y Board of Advisors several years after my graduation from Washington University. It has been amazing to watch the new programs that students create in response to the needs in the St. Louis and Wash U community. The Campus Y has remained student-focused with students creating, choosing and leading service programming. It has been amazing to watch each new set of student leaders carry on the Campus Y's work. I am honored to be in a position to help the Campus Y provide students with the same kind of experience that I had as a student in the 1980's. The Campus Y Board has some of the most community-minded people I have ever known. And we have a lot of fun!
I hope you will consider a donation to the Campus Y to allow students to get the Campus Y experience and help develop a new generation of leaders.
If you have questions, I would love to share more about the Campus Y!
Sherry