Smarty Giveaway: Out of School Time Club by the Morrison YMCA

Smarties, if you live in the South Charlotte area and are looking for some new after-school options or maybe just a little help with the craziness that ensues between 3 pm and 7 pm, the Morrison YMCA might just be your answer. The geniuses over at the Y have come up with a new after-school concept that makes life a LOT easier on working parents and stay-at-home parents. AND we’ve got a Smarty giveaway with this one. Got your interest peaked, right? Read on QUICKLY because this one is going to happen fast.

Piloted last year, the Morrison YMCA’s Out of School Time program is an a la carte after-school program that provides transportation from school (YES! You heard that right!) to the Y. Click here for participating schools. Children select an activity in one of three time blocks for as many days a week as they need. It’s truly a customized after-school program.

For example, if you’re a working parent who needs “traditional” after-school care, your child would be picked up from school, taken to the Y, and put in his chosen activities in three time blocks every day of the week. Each block is about 55 minutes long. You’d pick him up after work knowing his homework and extra curricular activities were D-O-N-E. Ah, sounds awesome.

The first block of the afternoon might be a Get Fit program or homework time or Xtreme sports – usually it’s something to get their bodies moving after a long day at school. The second and third blocks of the afternoon could be more specialized activities that are typically extracurricular – maybe gymnastics, dance, soccer, art, theatre, science, and cooking.

Now, if you’re a stay-at-home parent with multiple kids to get here-and-there-and-everywhere, this might be the best thing you’ve heard since hearing Honda’s 2k14 Odyssey has its own vacuum. Your child can go straight from school to the Y to participate in her extra-curricular activities – you don’t wait in a carpool line or schlep the baby in and out of the car. Plus with that first homework block out of the way, you might pick up your child after a gymnastics class to see all her homework done. Love this! Participate in one day, one block, or multiple days and multiple blocks.

The children that participate in this after-school program are in the same classes as those who just come to the Y for extra-curricular activities. The Y is merely making it easier on parents – they want to be your hub for all things extra-curricular and after school! Love this! Don’t we all need a hub??

We took a little tour of the Morrison Y the other day and saw firsthand its amazing facility. One thing that blew us away was the cooking school – kids were having a ball learning first-hand the art of brownie making. Smelled delicious, too. They’ve stuck to traditional activities with this after-school concept, and have also come up with some new ones – Lego, Xtreme Sports, Jump Rope, Ninja, just to name a few.

There’s no doubt about it – there’s definitely a little something for every child.

And don’t let the term “a la carte” scare you into thinking “cha-ch$ng, cha-ch$ng.” Pricing is very similar to typical after-school at area schools and in some circumstances is actually cheaper than other extra-curricular activities. The Y has bundled pricing and makes it very easy to choose just one day, one block; every day, all blocks; or anything in between. Click here for pricing info.

BUT, you might just be one of the lucky Smarty winners to not pay a dime this session!

Smarty Giveaway

Four lucky Smarties (you heard right: FOUR) will win 1 FREE Out of School Time Club running 9/9-10/25 to 4 different winners.  Placement will be based on space availability.

How do I win?

1. Make sure you “like” CSP and the Morrison Family YMCA on Facebook AND share this post on your personal Facebook wall.

2. Tell us why you think this new YMCA program would be the best thing in your life since sliced bread. Would it help you manage your schedule? Enable your child to have more fun while you finish up work? Let us know in the comment section elow. We want to hear it all!

That’s it! We’ll announce the four lucky winners this THURSDAY in our weekly newsletter so make sure you receive our emails every Thursday. For those who don’t win, no worries. Registration is going on now for the fall session. If you are new to the program, you must register at the front desk at the Morrison YMCA; once you’ve registered one time, email registration is just fine.

Derek White, Senior Program Director at the YMCA is THE man to talk to with any questions. Contact him at 704 716 4609 or derek.white@ymcacharlotte.org.