HE A LTH - C A PI TA L ONE , BRONX YMC A – ADV ERT I S EMENT Meet the Gentlemen of the
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020 7
Every morning at 4:30
a.m. Stephen Sloan arrives
at the YMCA in Castle Hill.
It’ll be a full day -- there’s a
pool, weight room, yoga and
spinning classes.
But it won’t be complete
until his buddies arrive -- a
handful of fellow retirees
who trickle in as the sun
comes up, an ad-hoc fraternal
organization known as
the Gentlemen of the Y.
You know the Gentlemen
have arrived in numbers
when the locker room gets
loud, laughter snaps sharply,
like a towel, and guffaws
and backslaps fi ll the room,
issued by men with nicknames
like International
Superstar, Ice, Mack Daddy,
and Frank Sinatra. The list
goes on.
“It makes my life so much
easier, says Sloan, aka International
Superstar. “Everything’s
accessible to give me
plenty of help. And the Gentlemen
of the Y has been very
supportive and helpful to me
-- for me it’s a brotherhood,
a family, we go through a lot
of stuff, whether it’s good,
bad or ugly.”
Adds Tony Lawrence, aka
Mack Daddy: “We all stay in
contact with each other. If
we don’t see each other for a
while we’ll make a cold call
to fi nd out what’s going on.”
The Gentlemen of the Y
look out for more than each
other. They sponsor neighborhood
barbecues for families
and children, for example.
“We do a lot of things to
incorporate people from the
outside,” said Mack Daddy.
“We enjoy giving back to the
community, and the Y works
with us to make that happen.
With help from Capital
One, the Y is able to facilitate
these activities. Nicole
Connell-Clarke, Market
Manager at Capital One,
was born in Barbados and
was raised in the Bronx. She
envied her classmates who
were able to afford membership
to the Y. Now she sits
on the Castle Hill YMCA
(formerly the Bronx YMCA)
board of managers and is
able to give back to her community
in multiple ways —
with support from Capital
One.
“We’re focused on making
true impact in the communities
we reside, for the Y,
we’ve done a lot of work with
fi nancial education, hosting
workshops and working directly
with their members,”
she said. “We participate in
their back to school drive
where we help them pack
bookbags. We engage with
members of the community
and talk to them about the
importance of savings and
understanding their money,
how it works, teaching them
how to be safe online, and we
work to educate them about
safety and security using
our online banking.”
Connell-Clarke says that
since seniors are targets
of online scams, much of
their outreach is geared to
that age group. “We know
that sometimes seniors are
targeted, so we go through
different techniques and
training that helps them understand
the scams that are
out there so they can bank
online safely, and even learn
how to pay bills online.”
Capital One is focused
on making real and lasting
change, relying on a vast
network of nonprofi t organizations
and local leaders
who enhance educational
opportunities, provide job
training, build safe and affordable
housing, deliver
fi nancial education and
promote small business development.
Capital One has
worked with the YMCA of
Greater New York for the
past twelve years, supporting
the Y’s Teens Take the
City initiative, a civics education
and leadership training
program that gives
teens the opportunity to
roll up their sleeves and get
involved in issues affecting
themselves and their communities.
Middle schoolers in the
Y Afterschool program
have also been involved in
the Capital One Coders program.
Capital One Coders
is a 10-week program designed
to teach students introductory
software development
skills in a fun and
engaging environment.
Tech volunteers from Capital
One, like software engineers,
meet with students
to help teach them how to
design and build their own
applications.
“If I can bring volunteers
in from Capital One,
to help pack some bookbags
and host seminars,
we’re all for it,” she said.
“You know, it’s not just the
recognition and prestige
of sitting on the board, but
it’s also doing the work that
comes along with it that’s
rewarding.”
Connell-Clarke feels a
sense of pride and accomplishment,
returning to the
neighborhood that shaped
so much of who she is today.
“I feel like when you can
actually see the work that
you do, when it becomes so
tangible, the desire to give
back and when you’re able
to do so and you have an
organization that’s behind
you and supports it — it’s
empowering”
As for the Gentlemen of
the Y, they appreciate the
support, too. “Let’s say we
want to have a barbecue,”
says Mack Daddy, “If you
go to any other place you
have to pay for the place.
But here at the Y, they let
us have use of the barbecue
grills in the backyard.
We don’t have to put up any
money to use the backyard
and grills, and what’s better
than that?”
To learn more about
Capital One visit www.
capitalone.com/about and
follow them on twitter @
CapitalOneNews
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