Nominator: Beth Casper

Nominee: Holly Kriz-Anderson

Occupation: Youth Development Director and VP of operations for Eugene Family YMCA

Holly Kriz-Anderson and her Youth Development Team at the YMCA in Eugene, Ore., have been putting in major hours for the children since the start of COVID-19. Since March, Anderson and her team have organized free childcare for healthcare and emergency workers and then expanded to all essential workers in the community.

Anderson has been the Youth Development Director at the Eugene YMCA for the past 20 years and over the past year her position has been expanded to cover more responsibilities. She says that deciding to run a free childcare program was a natural fit for them, but figuring out how to run a childcare program during a pandemic was a bigger challenge.

“It was really taking what we already do and we had to expand and almost recreate what it looks like to run a childcare program,” Kriz-Anderson said.

They redesigned classic childhood games like tag to be contactless by having kids tag each other with pool noodles. They added painter’s tape to section off play areas. They gave each child their own set of craft supplies. They did kid yoga. They sanitized religiously.

“We try to stop using the term ‘social distancing’ and we use the term ‘physical distancing’,” Kriz-Anderson says. “We want to continue being social with people and you can be social with someone even if you’re not standing right by them.”

Currently, there are 120 kids involved in the program, attending on Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday. When families come to drop off their kids, they’re asked if anyone has a cough or a fever and the kids get their temperatures checked at the door.

“We have a sign-in person who is the same person in the morning and afternoon and they’re the ones that sign the youth in. The staff that are with those kids never meet the family at all,” said Kriz-Anderson. “Removing that piece was really, really hard. That’s part of what we pride ourselves on, creating these great relationships with families.”

While incorporating technology is something that Anderson tries to avoid typically when planning programs for the kids, it’s less typical during pandemic days. Now the kids take virtual museum tours, or virtual tours of the zoo. Most importantly, though, the kids are getting to know the people who are helping them with their homework.

“I think when kids know who their staff are then they do get a little bit of normalcy. You can still sing some cheesy pop song when you’re getting ready to wash your hands to go eat your lunch,” Kriz-Anderson says. “You do have to be a little goofy, bringing that humor to the program in addition to still being safe.”

Kriz-Anderson thanks her Youth Development Team for the success of the program, and the reach it has had across the community. “My staff are the ones who are elbows deep in sanitizer everyday. They’re the ones who I wish I could give more to,” she says.

For the summer, Anderson is looking to tweak the program and continue to improve their operations. The YMCA will continue to run free childcare for essential workers through the pandemic. 

“If you look at the YMCA’s history across the world, Y’s step up when the community needs them,” Anderson says. “Just being a part of this huge movement, it’s more than just us, and that’s very rewarding.”