Walk the Walk

I am a property owner on the Key Peninsula, a close neighbor of the YMCA Camp Seymour. We have been neighbors since 1987 and in that time I have been proud to have such a well-respected camp in our vicinity. The values they teach to guide our next generation are vital to the future of our society. However, with the Y’s decision to ignore the role they play in the community and their demonstrated lack of respect for the Key Peninsula, I am less enthusiastic.

The Key Peninsula is a community; community being defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “a group of people living in the same vicinity having interests in common.” The Key Peninsula has worked to build community and has dedicated volunteers striving to make the quality of life something we can all be proud of.

There is an existing process of review within our community in the KP Advisory Council, which recommended against the Y building a 60-foot tall water tower. The Y continues to expand its scope at Camp Seymour at a prodigious rate. They will need better water service. However, they refuse to exercise their own calling to social responsibility by listening to the community that the Y claims they are serving, by not following through with more acceptable options to the 60-foot tower.

The Y has chosen to turn their backs on our community volunteers and its neighbors in a most arrogant manner; very unbefitting of an organization which allegedly works to promote youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

The YMCA should not be preaching values they themselves fail to follow. Camp Seymour: You need to quit talking and actually walk the walk.

Ladeen Miller, Glen Cove