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At the Y, Amy found healing, belonging, and the strength to lift others.
The path to healing isn’t always a straight line. Sometimes it’s a winding, uphill climb filled with second chances, painful detours, and moments that break you, before they begin to build you back up again. For Amy, that path started with the YMCA.
Her journey began in crisis. After struggling with addiction and surviving an abusive marriage, Amy was welcomed into the housing program at the YMCA of Reading & Berks County. In retrospect, it was Amy’s first real step toward a better life.
The YMCA was the beginning of my story. Even though I didn’t stay long, it planted a seed. It was the first time I started to believe that a different life was possible.
That belief, however small, was enough.
By 2012, Amy began to transform her life as the changes she had made gave her new footing and she found support in community programs, recovery meetings, and sober events. Finally, she “started living instead of just surviving” and her world shifted for the best. She regained full custody of her daughter, and married the love of her life, and created a new beautifully blended family with four children.
Amy’s journey with the Y took on a new, incredible life, this time as a parent. All four kids attended before-and-after school “Y-Care” at Brecknock Elementary and summer camp at the Mifflin YMCA. They loved the fun experiences and making/playing with friends. Amy and her husband loved even more than that. They found support, comfort and strength in the inclusion and sense of true belonging that their son, who is on the autism spectrum, found at the Y.
They welcomed him with open arms. So many places wouldn’t ‘deal’ with him. But the Y staff never made him feel like a burden. They made him feel like he belonged.
Fast forward to 2018. Life threw another devastating blow when Amy’s mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and passed away within months. Grief and depression hit like a tidal wave. That’s when someone encouraged her to go to the gym. “I thought it was a joke,” she laughs softly, “but I went.”
And something clicked.
Group fitness didn’t just become a routine; it became her anchor. A space to breathe. A place to cry, sweat, connect, and feel something other than grief. “Group fitness became my saving grace,” Amy says.
Soon, she wasn’t just taking classes. She was leading them. Giving back the same encouragement that once saved her.
Today, Amy teaches group fitness at the YMCA, pouring strength into every movement, every message. She’s become the light for others still navigating dark places, the way the Y once was for her. For the young mother battling addiction. For her stepson, who just wanted to feel accepted. For the grieving daughter trying to survive one more day. “The Y helped me grow. It helped my family grow,” Amy says. “And now I get to be part of the change that helped me.”
Because of the Y, Amy’s life is proof that hope can be rebuilt and shared.
Be the reason someone like Amy finds their first step toward healing. Donate today and support the programs that give our community strength, one story at a time.
