page_title: YMCA in America
section_title: Parent/child programs
hierarchical_section_title: YMCA in America / Programs and activities / Parent/child programs
caption_attribution_description: English: I took photo with Canon camera in San Angelo, TX.
context_page_description: The Y in America is part of the worldwide youth organization YMCA. It has 2,700 separate organizations with 10,000 branches working with 21 million men, women and children, to "strengthen communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility." It employs 19,000 staff and is supported by 600,000 volunteers, and YMCA branches have about 10,000 service locations. The first YMCA in the United States opened on 29 December 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan, an American seaman and missionary.
  YMCAs in America is one of the largest charitable nonprofits in the United States, in terms of donations received from the general public, as listed by Forbes magazine.
context_section_description: In the United States, YMCA's parent/child programs, under the umbrella program called Y-Guides, (originally called YMCA Indian Guides, Princesses, Braves, and Maidens) have provided structured opportunities for fellowship, camping, and community-building activities (including craft-making and community service) for several generations of parents and kids in kindergarten through third grade.
  These programs stem from similar activities dating back to 1926. Notable founders of YMCA Indian Guides include Harold Keltner, the St. Louis YMCA secretary, and Joe Friday, an Ojibway hunting guide. The two men met in 1927, when Keltner went on a hunting and fishing trip in the Hudson Bay country. With Friday's help, Keltner studied the close companionship of Ojibway boys and their fathers. This is when he conceived the plan for the Indian Guides. Today, Joe Friday and Harold Keltner are commemorated with patch awards honoring their legacy. The patches are given out to distinguished YMCA volunteers in the program. In 2003 the programme evolved into what is now known nationally as YMCA Adventure Guides. "Trailblazers" is YMCA's parent/child program for older kids. In 2006, YMCA Indian Guides celebrated 80 years as a YMCA program. Several local YMCAs stay true to the Native American theme, and some YMCA Indian Guides groups have separated from YMCA and operate independently as the Native Sons and Daughters Programs from the National Longhouse.
  In some programs, children earn patches for achieving various goals, such as completing a designated nature hike or participating in Y-sponsored events.
caption: YMCA Building in San Angelo, Texas, is located along the Concho River.
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