Bay Path Selects YWCA of Western Mass. as Holiday Charity Partner

LONGMEADOW — Bay Path University’s annual holiday party for employees boasts a longstanding tradition of presenting a local nonprofit organization with contributions from the university community in celebration of the holiday season. This year, the YWCA of Western Massachusetts will be the recipient charity.

The YWCA of Western Massachusetts is one of 300 local associations in the U.S. For nearly 150 years, the YWCA has served this region, guided by its founding principle: to provide shelter, support services, and tools for self-sufficiency for women and girls. Today, the YWCA provides safe places for women and children in crisis. It offers women counseling, job training, and health and fitness. In pursuit of its mission to empower women and eliminate racism, the YWCA strives to create opportunities for women’s growth, power, and leadership to obtain peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all people.

The party is slated for today, Dec. 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Blake Student Commons, Bay Path University, 588 Longmeadow St. Longmeadow. At approximately 12:40 p.m., the YWCA will be honored with donations from the university, and Elizabeth Dineen, YWCA executive director, as well as two Bay Path graduates, Dalila Cardona and Luz Rivera, will be invited to give remarks.

The YWCA of Western Massachusetts operates 21 programs at several sites, including Westfield, Holyoke, Northampton, and Springfield. The YWCA also operates an 11-acre campus at 1 Clough St. in Springfield that provides shelter to battered women and their children in a modern facility with state-of-the-art computerized security. 

Items on the organization’s holiday wish list include women’s clothing in all sizes, particularly pants, shirts, sweatpants, sweatshirts, fleece jackets, underwear, coats, gloves, hats, and leggings, as well as gift cards for clothing and grocery stores.