Monthly Archives: February 2026

by Donna Wells, Executive Director of the Gloucester County YMCA When Suzanne mentioned that World Basketball Day was December 21st, I was immediately inspired. After all, the YMCA invented basketball — this is our holiday! But there was one small challenge: it fell on a Sunday, and with turnaround time so tight (and I recently started as the new Executive Director), pulling off something big just wasn’t realistic. Still, I couldn’t let the moment pass. So, I called in a favor. Our Adult Men’s Basketball League has a longtime rental partner, and he graciously connected me with his Sixers representative. [...]

Medford, NJ (February 12, 2026) – YMCA of the Pines is proud to celebrate its 120th anniversary this year, marking more than a century of serving children, families, and communities across southern New Jersey and the greater mid-Atlantic region through camp, youth development, outdoor education, and community programs. What is now a vibrant, 800-acre campus in Medford, New Jersey, began in the early 1900s as an abandoned mill and cranberry bog, tucked deep within a forest of pine, oak, cedar, and laurel. In 1906, the YMCAs of Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Monmouth counties established what was then known as YMCA [...]