THE Y.
SO MUCH MORE:
MARYAN SALMI

Maryan Salmi… She has many faces, but the face of Love and Perseverance leads the way.

In November, we did a featured story on Bob and Maryan Salmi and we shared their remarkable life story of commitment to service and others. They both have had a remarkable career in education, coaching and volunteering within the Y and community. It hasn’t come to an end just yet… Just ask Maryan, the daughter of a minister who has deep roots in her faith which has paved the way for her life dedicated to serving others.

Maryan hasn’t had the easiest road traveled in her life. After 26 years of teaching PE, she retired and began to start “focusing on herself.” Ironically, all those years of teaching Physical Education, one would think she would have a bill of health. Unfortunately, for Maryan life’s journey’s had another story to tell.

Since her retirement from teaching in 2004 and massage therapy in 2010, Maryan has had a total of 7 surgeries, ranging from stage 3C Ovarian Cancer, double by-pass heart surgery, knee scope, broken foot, 3 eye surgeries and as of September 2014 she was hit with another blow, her Ovarian Cancer was back.

Besides her hairless head due to Chemo, you would never know she had anything wrong with her at all. Maryan is a picture of positive! This month she will receive one more bout of Chemo, which will be her last according to her doctors. Her cancer will be in remission, and back to the Y she will come!

Maryan would often be found at the Y most days of the week between 1-3pm. She said since the fall of 2014, she hasn’t been back to the Y until last week, and she came to the Y in typically Maryan fashion, to deliver a gift to a Y staffer and to say hi to her friends at the Y. Jeanette Nietert, who works at Member Services mailed Maryan a card upon hearing that her cancer returned and that act of kindness from Jeanette just floored her. “I was so blessed by the card Jeanette sent me” stated Maryan. “When I received the card and found out Jeanette was praying for me I just lost it.” Maryan was so grateful for the positive note of encouragement from Jeanette that Maryan decided to return the act of love. Not many people know this but Maryan has been making “prayer shawls” for others since she received one from a nurse named Nancy. Over the last few years Maryan has made 135 prayer shawls for others. That day last week when Maryan stopped at the Y, Jeanette received one of those prayer shawls from Maryan and a big hug!

Maryan said, “God has plans for me yet and I need to start paying attention!” So Maryan plans to come back to the Y as soon as she is able to battle back once again. She will persevere again and to get her fitness back to where she wants it. We have a feeling Maryan will have lots of years left to impact others. We count it a blessing that Maryan is part of our Y and that we have staff like Jeanette, who take time to think of our members! Don’t wait until someone is gone to thank them or tell them how much you love them. This is our Y, it’s so much more!

GET GROOVIN' AT
YOUR OWN PACE

ZUMBA GOLD IS BACK AND WITH MORE CLASSES TO OFFER! Now on Tuesdays at 10:30am and 4:30pm with the Queen of Fitness & Fun herself, Carol Loeschke and BACK AGAIN are Wednesdays at 10:00am with our wonderful and favorite bright lipstick wearing lady Jessica Martinez. If you haven't tried ZUMBA Gold, what are you waiting for?!?!

REACH NEW HEIGHTS:
CAMP CORMORANT

Missing that residence camp experience for your child? Well, we are excited to announce that we will be partnering with the Fargo YMCA in order to provide that opportunity for the Aberdeen community. Fargo YMCA hosts a summer residence camp called Camp Cormorant that offers so many opportunities for the children that attend.

We will provide travel to and from the camp as well as sending current after school staff along with the children to give them the sense of security of knowing some adults at the camp! We look forward to this opportunity and know that it is an experience your child won't want to miss. For more information regarding the experience you can contact Kayley at 225-7113 or kvalsvig@aberdeenymca.org. Registration forms can be picked up and returned to either the YMCA or YDC! Check out Camp Cormorant's Facebook page for amazing pictures and videos of the exciting adventures it has to offer!

WORTH A
THOUSAND WORDS

This year's Luau Party: Family Fun Night was a huge hit! We had over 400 people attend our annual event and we couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out. We have to give most of the credit to over 40 volunteers that helped us out. This year we had a group from the PC Nursing department who came dressed for summer. We also had amazing Y staff that donated their time to this event. The credit goes to them for making this possible! You can find the Luau pictures on our Flickr account, HERE.





Did you attend the Aerobathon?!? Make sure you check out the photos from the event, HERE. This years' Aerobathon had 61 participants and raised over $1,600 for the Group Fitness Department. Thanks again to all who participated and helped to make our last Aerobathon a good time for all!