Zimmer Biomet supervisors collected 22 boxes of snacks, games and more for the Kosciusko Community YMCA’s Kids Clubs at area schools as part of a Holiday Give Back Event. They presented the items to the YMCA on Monday, Dec. 14. From left: Front — Zimmer Biomet’s Angela Krebs and David Krebs; middle — YMCA Kids Club at Eisenhower Elementary School Site Director Kathy Gagnon, YMCA Director of Operations Stacy Thomas, YMCA Kids Club at Pierceton Elementary School Site Director Missy Rucker Brown, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. representative Caroline Day, Zimmer Biomet’s Matthew McGaughey, Jami Curtis, Dale Campbell, Jeff Corban and Magdalena Paredes; back — Warsaw Community Schools Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. David Robertson, YMCA CEO Jim Swanson, Zimmer Biomet’s Tim Shuman, Ryan Fields, J.P. Stahl, Skip Smythe, Nathan O’Hara, Aaron Judy, Brad Sutter, Jennifer Hlutke, Bob Eiler and Matt Linville. InkFreeNews photos by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko Community YMCA’s Kids Clubs and Baker Youth Club of Warsaw now have extra supplies thanks to Zimmer Biomet.

The company’s Warsaw supervisors opted to make the clubs the focus of a Holiday Give Back Event. This is the second year the supervisors have picked a charitable cause.

Zimmer Biomet Human Resources Coordinator Angela Krebs said helping both organizations is “personal” for the company’s employees because of the child care help they provide.

More than 150 supervisors, managers and team members split into 16 teams to collect items for the clubs.

Group members presented 22 boxes full of snacks, games and more to the YMCA on Monday, Dec. 14. They presented 13 to BYC on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

“This is super helpful, first of all,” said YMCA Director of Operations Stacy Thomas of the donation. “And it’s great to be able to support the staff in this with the donations and (I’m) just humbled really by the generosity of the teams.”

“It’s been a hard year for everybody, so everybody will be ecstatic to receive some new things and be able to do some new things,” she continued.

“Zimmer does so much for this county, this community,” said YMCA CEO Jim Swanson. “They do a tremendous amount for the Y; they’re a tremendous partner. And so what this does is that it helps outfit our schools with supplies, needed supplies; it helps give us mostly the best start as we start out in January. … And so this really, really helps us from a necessary supply need and also a financial need.”

The Kids Clubs serve about 350 kids in before- and after-school programs. Those programs are at Claypool, Eisenhower, Jefferson, Harrison, Leesburg, Lincoln, Madison, Mentone, Pierceton and Washington elementary schools.

BYC serves about 250-260 kids regularly right now through morning and afternoon programs and satellite programs. The children it serves go to Warsaw Community Schools and Wawasee Community School Corp.

“We would not be able to do what we do without the community that we live in,” said BYC Executive Director Tracy Furnivall during Zimmer Biomet’s presentation to BYC on Tuesday. “We are extremely blessed to live in Warsaw and Kosciusko County, so thank you guys for the time and effort that you put in to do this.”

Furnivall also noted BYC had received a monetary donation of $2,000 from the Zimmer Biomet Foundation this week.

Zimmer Biomet supervisors donated 13 boxes of snacks, games and the like to Baker Youth Club. They presented the items on Tuesday, Dec. 15. From left: Front — Zimmer Biomet’s Angela Krebs, Craig Thomas, Josh Powell, Kristen Tucker, Tyler Akers and Magdalena Paredes, Warsaw Community Schools Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. David Robertson and BYC Program Director Caleb Rovenstine; back — BYC Executive Director Tracy Furnivall and Zimmer Biomet’s Drew Hall, Nate Daughenbaugh, Rob Surber, Tim Shuman, Herman Lucas and Mitch Purdy, Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert and Zimmer Biomet’s Jennifer Hlutke.