Kathy Abernathy will never forget the day when she realized how important the Y was to her 10-year-old daughter, Lexi.
“It was raining, so all the kids at summer camp were inside in the gym,” the long-time special education teacher recalls. “Lexi was sitting on the bleachers with a group of kids, and there was this little boy sitting next to her. They were elbowing each other gently and giggling and laughing. When I saw it, I completely broke down crying. I’d never seen her have an interaction like that with a typical child.”
The Abernathys moved to Chapel Hill so that Lexi could attend the state’s best school system for autistic children. Kathy took a job working second shift, but she couldn’t find anyone to watch Lexi while she worked.
“I’d become distraught,” Kathy says. “We didn’t have much money; every extra penny and dime goes to taking care of Lexi. One day, I took a chance and wandered into the YMCA. I started talking to the woman at the front desk, and she told me she wanted to talk to her colleagues to see if Lexi could attend summer camp. She didn’t want to make any promises but said she’d look into it.”
Not only did Lexi attend summer camp, but she subsequently enrolled in after-school programming and has participated in both thanks to support provided by the YMCA Annual Campaign.
“I cannot stress the importance of the Y in our lives,” Kathy says. “Not one of the counselors there signed up to work with a child with severe autism. Not one. But not one of them has ever acted like it’s a problem. They all have accepted and embraced Lexi as part of their YMCA family.”
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