The Hamilton Area YMCA receives a check for $4,000 from the Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund to support its Special Kids Organized Recreation (SKOR) Program.
The Hamilton Area YMCA has announced that the organization received generous financial support from the Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund to support its SKOR (Special Kids Organized Recreation) Program. The funds will be used to provide recreational and social opportunities to local children and adults with special needs and their families. The recommendation to provide the funds to the Hamilton Area YMCA came from Kristen Gates, an employee at Church & Dwight and the mother of Samantha Gates, a long-time SKOR participant.
SKOR was established by the Hamilton Area YMCA in 1999 to address the needs of youth in the special needs community. What began as an organized basketball program has grown exponentially into a holistic program with a variety of recreation and social activities designed to build self-esteem, foster social interaction and celebrate individual achievements for young people with intellectual, physical or emotional disabilities. Currently, there are 324 individuals enrolled in SKOR, and over 160 volunteers have contributed approximately 2600 hours of service to support the program in 2015 alone.
This is the Hamilton Area YMCA’s first time receiving funds from Church & Dwight’s Employee Giving Fund.
The Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization established by the company in 2005 to support charitable organizations in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Church & Dwight is headquartered in Ewing, NJ and manufactures and markets a wide range of household, personal care and specialty products under the Arm & Hammer brand name and other well-known trademarks.
The $4,000 check was presented to the Hamilton Area YMCA at their annual “Special Night for Special Kids,” a food and cheer tasting benefitting the SKOR program, on September 24. Kristen Gates, her daughter Samantha, and her husband Gregg who is a long-time SKOR volunteer presented the check to Hamilton Area YMCA CEO David Kisselback.
