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Program Corner Stones:
The Yomechas Federation Guides and Princesses Program seeks to create a family friendly, fun-filled environment that fosters
strong relationships and a love of nature.
The following program cornerstones are the foundation of the program,
and help us to create this environment.
Purpose
The purpose of the Guides and Princess
Program is to foster the understanding and companionship between parent and
child.
Pledge
We, father/mother and son/daughter,
through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our
community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of Our Creator.
Aims
1. To be clean in body and pure in heart.
2.
To be Friends Forever with my father/mother/son/daughter/family.
3.
To love the sacred circle of my family.
4.
To listen while others speak.
5.
To love my neighbor as myself.
6.
To respect the traditions and beliefs of all people.
7. To seek and preserve the beauty of Our Creator's work in forest, field, and stream.
Our Program’s History
The
original Father and Son Y-Indian Guide Program was developed
in a deliberate way to support the father's vital family role as teacher,
counselor, and friend to his son/daughter. The program was initiated by Harold
S. Keltner, St. Louis YMCA Director, as an integral part of Association work.
In 1926 he organized the first tribe in Richmond Heights, Missouri, with the
help of his good friend, Joe Friday, an Ojibway Native American, and William H.
Hefelfinger, chief of the first Y-Indian Guide tribe.
The
interest of those workers in the father-son relationship stemmed out of YMCA
pioneering efforts at initiating a father-son banquet idea in 1912 at the
Providence, Rhode Island YMCA. It was stimulated further through the Father and
Son Library series compiled by Lansing F. Smith of St. Louis and Frank Cheley
of Denver. Inspired by his experiences with Joe Friday, who was his guide on
fishing and hunting trips into Canada, Harold Keltner initiated a program of
parent-child experiences that now involves a half-million children and adults
annually in the YMCA.
While
Keltner was on a hunting trip in Canada, one evening, Joe Friday, the Native
American, said to his white colleague as they sat around a blazing campfire:
"The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, to track,
to fish, to walk softly and silently in the forest, to know the meaning and
purpose of life, and all he must know, while the white man allows the mother to
raise his son." These comments struck home, and Harold Keltner arranged
for Joe Friday to work with him at the St. Louis YMCA.
The
Ojibway, Joe Friday, spoke before groups of YMCA boys and dads in St. Louis,
and Mr. Keltner discovered that fathers, as well as boys had a keen interest in
the traditions and ways of the Native American tribes. At the same time, being
greatly influenced by the work of Ernest Thompson Seton, great lover of the
our-of-doors, Harold Keltner conceived the idea of a father-son program based
upon the strong qualities of Native American culture and life -- dignity,
patience, endurance, spirituality, feeling for the earth, and concern for the
family. Thus, the Y-Indian Guide program was born over half a century ago.
Although
the father-son program grew slowly at first, Y-Indian Guides was recognized as
a national YMCA program in 1935 with the advocacy of Abel J. Gregg, then
National Boys' Work Secretary. But the rapid growth of the program across the
country was guided by John A Ledlie, national adviser, in the post World War II
period of 1944 to 1962. With the significant assistance of a devoted group of
able National Long House officers, many new programs and organizational
developments at the local and national level evolved. Since 1963 the swift
expansion of the program has persisted. Over 30,000 parent-child groups have
been reported annually by nearly 900 YMCAs from coast to coast.
The Family
YMCA and the father-son Indian Guide program continued to flourish following
World War II. This success in turn
nurtured the development of YMCA parent-daughter groups. The mother-daughter
program, called Y-Indian Maidens, was established in South Bend, Indiana, in
1951; three years later father-daughter groups, called Y-Indian Princesses,
emerged in the Fresno YMCA of California.
Although
some Y-Indian Guide groups had extended their father-son experiences beyond the
first three grades from the beginning, it was not until 1969 that the Y-Trail
Blazers plan was recognized by the National Long House Executive Committee for
sons 9 to 11 years old and their fathers.
In September of 2010, the
Yomechas Federation established itself as an independent 503c not for profit
organization, and is no longer officially associated with the YMCA. The
Yomechas Federation is an independent Guides and Princesses program serving the
Downers Grove and surrounding areas. The
Federation offers the traditional Native American-themed program that
generations have come to know and love.
We truly believe that our program offers a depth of fun, experiences,
and growth for both parents and children.