Ribbon Cutting Event

Thank you to all those who attended our momentous Ribbon Cutting ceremoney yesterday celebrating the YWCA Greater Newburyport & Element Care PACE program for unit homes & healthcare for seniors.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025
2:00 – 4:00 pm
14 Ingalls Court
Methuen, MA

Congratulations to John Feehan, YWCA Executive Director on being awarded the Peace Prize from the Newburyport Human Rights Commission. John was nominated and awarded this prize in recognition of his efforts promoting and supporting a sense of welcome and inclusion, and by working to eliminate prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and acts of hate in our community.

May is Asian American Hawaiian Native Pacific Islander Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

Like most commemorative months, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month originated with Congress. In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 72. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This resolution proposed that the President should “proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first ten days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” This joint resolution was passed by the House and then the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become Public Law 95-419 (PDF, 158kb). This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 (PDF, 166kb) which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb) which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.

The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.

Thank you to everyone who attended our 141st Annual Meeting for the YWCA Greater Newburyport and its subsidiaries.

Congratulations to Judy Tymon for all her hard work as Coordinator for the YWCA Housing Choice Coalition over the past two years.

We look forward to seeing you all nexty ear.

YWCA Encore is a free program for those who have experienced cancer at any time in their lives.  After Encore is a continuation program for those who have completed the “Encore” program.  Current class schedule effective 9/9/2024:

Monday, 6 pm Warm Water Pool class

Tuesday, 11:30 am  Gentle Land class, 12:15 pm Warm Water Pool class  (Classes are taught in combination with Arthritis Foundation Land and Aquatic Program also offered to members.)

Thursday, 6 pm Warm Water Pool class

Updated Encore and After Encore Brochure