As we celebrate the Christmas season I want to share a segment taken from the book “Proud Heritage: The History in Pictures of the YMCA in the United States: by Andrea Hinding.

When George Williams and 11 other young clerks formed the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in London in June 1844, they began a world movement. But Williams and his friends were unaware of the significance of their act. On that day, meeting in a room in the dry goods firm of Hitchcock and Rogers, where most of them worked and lived, they were concerned simply with helping young men like themselves find God.

London in the mid-19th century was indeed a place to imperil souls. Tens of thousands of young men had migrated there from the countryside to find employment. They worked 12 to 14 hours each day, and in dry goods firms most lived crowded together in small rooms above the shops.

Williams and his friends had, in John Wesley’s words, felt their souls strangely warmed by God. The dangers of “vice” troubled them, but their purpose in organizing was not negative. They wanted to extend God’s grace to unconverted young men so they could “feel the warmth and glow that is ours.”

In the United States, Thomas Valentine Sullivan, a retired sea captain and lay missionary for the Baptist Church, also worried about the temptations facing young men in large cities. In October 1851, he read an account of the London association in the Boston Watchman and Reflector. He visited the London association, and then returned to Boston to convene a meeting, on Dec. 15, to discuss forming an association in that city. He and six others drafted a constitution that was reviewed at a second meeting a week later. On Dec.29, 1851 in the chapel of the Old South Church in Spring Lane, they approved the constitution and began their work to improve “the spiritual and mental condition of young men.”

As the son of a long-time history teacher I am intrigued by the relationship of historic dates. It is astonishing to me that the first YMCA meeting in the U.S. took place seven years before Minnesota became a state. Millard Fillmore was President. It would be almost 10 years before the start of the Civil War. 50 years before Marshall became a city on Feb. 20, 1901. Time changes all but our YMCA mission today is not altogether different — to instill the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility through programs and services that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.

Silver Sneakers Kickoff — Silver Sneakers and Silver & Fit registration will begin on Jan. 1. Stop by the front desk to complete the paperwork if you having qualifying insurance for this free program. Feel free to contact me at 507-532-9622 or tbolin@marshallareaymca.org for questions about these Silver programs.