By Alex McInnes, past member of a former branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit
I am Scottish by birth but have for some years now been living in Australia. I am 70 years old.
In 1955, my parents and I emigrated from Scotland to Detroit which, at that time, was a thriving, prosperous city. I felt very isolated for the first year or so – lonely and homesick.
I can’t remember how I first came into contact with the YMCA, but I started going to the Northeastern Y and became a member of the swim team, training and competing in meets. We swam at the state championships at Lansing, I remember. Through this exposure, I learned the value of teamwork and camaraderie and also the joy of being valued, which I’d had very little of up until then. I also learned the rewards that can come from seeing people for what they are and not for the colour of their skin. (Our team diver was an African American kid called Julius Lee, and we often visited each others homes.)
These values have stuck with me throughout my life, and I like to think that I learned most, if not all of them, at the Y as a kid in the ’50s.
Best wishes to you all,
Alex
P.S. I still attend our local Y (in Australia) and am still swimming – just not so fast!