The Valley of the Sun YMCA has just completed a record year of participants in its winter sports program. This stellar year comes after the recent addition of the YMCA Adult Basketball League (YABL), and the expansion of youth sports programs late last year.

Remember the movie “Kingpin” where Woody Harrelson, the bowling prodigy, is heading to Reno for the biggest event of his life, the million-dollar take-all bowling tournament. This year the location is ‘Tukee and it may not be a million-dollar take-all tournament, but it is a very special event that is looking to raise up to $60,000 for families in our community — The YMCA Frames for Families Bowling event.

The 2012 Y Angels golf tournament and dinner, now in its eighth year and held last month, has raised more than $1.5 million dollars for the Valley of the Sun YMCA’s education scholarship programs. What began as a charity event to help fund the creation of the Desert Foothills Family YMCA now gives 100 percent of proceeds raised each year to educational scholarships for deserving YMCA youth as well as crucial funding for several YMCA educational programs.

A new partnership between Valley of the Sun YMCA and Maricopa County will lead to lower health care costs for one of the largest employers in Arizona.

Want your kids to have an active summer with sports, daily swimming, rock climbing and many other special interests? Come join the YMCA’s full-day and part-day adventure camps designed to keep kids engaged with specific fun curriculums. They offer flexible schedules, weekly sign ups, and extended days and hours. This amazing camp gives Mom and Dad a part-day break, too.

Three Ahwatukee Foothills residents are taking their passion for music across international waters as they perform at the fourth annual Grenoble Music Festival in France.

Three Ahwatukee Foothills residents are taking their passion for music across international waters as they perform at the fourth annual Grenoble Music Festival in France.

Through a partnership between the Valley of the Sun YMCA and the Department of Defense (DOD), all 17 Valley of the Sun YMCA branches now offer qualifying members of the Armed Forces and their families access to youth development, family strengthening, and health and well-being programs.

The Valley of the Sun YMCA has announced that Patricia Leach is the new senior vice president and chief financial development officer for the association. With more than 30 years experience leading nonprofit organizations, Leach will oversee fundraising and continue to develop Valley and statewide support for the YMCA and its breadth of programs and services.

The YMCA has been around since 1844 and is unique to the needs of the communities it serves. The one commonality you will see in all YMCA’s all over the world is that it serves under the same guiding principles: Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.

From swimming lessons to all-day camps and even camps for teens, the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA has a program to fit just about any need this summer.

Strong Kids and Families, the annual fundraiser benefitting Valley of the Sun YMCA programs and services is under way. The 2012 campaign goal to raise $3.4 million will serve communities throughout Greater Arizona. The campaign goes through May 1.

The Valley of the Sun YMCA brought together 19 families to the US Airways Center recently for the fifth annual Family of the Year awards. Every year each of the Valley of the Sun YMCA branches nominates a deserving family whose volunteerism, contributions and support of the Y have made an impact in their communities.

The deadline to register for spring sports at the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, 1030 E. Liberty Lane, is Sunday, Feb. 26.

The deadline to register for spring sports at the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, 1030 E. Liberty Lane, is Feb. 26.

The deadline to register for spring sports at the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, 1030 E. Liberty Lane, is Feb. 26.

It's exciting to travel lightly with just a passport, a toothbrush, and a couple changes of clothes - planning as you go and moving between places nimbly. This is exactly what I did going to Seville.

Universal City, Calif. - With his legs propped up on a teacher's desk, shock rocker Alice Cooper looks right at home inside a demented science classroom filled with phony spiders and snakes. The eerie enclave is just one of the stops in a haunted maze attraction inspired by the "School's Out" headmaster at Universal Studios Hollywood's annual Halloween Horror Nights event.

Universal City, Calif. - With his legs propped up on a teacher's desk, shock rocker Alice Cooper looks right at home inside a demented science classroom filled with phony spiders and snakes. The eerie enclave is just one of the stops in a haunted maze attraction inspired by the "School's Out" headmaster at Universal Studios Hollywood's annual Halloween Horror Nights event.

Universal City, Calif. - With his legs propped up on a teacher's desk, shock rocker Alice Cooper looks right at home inside a demented science classroom filled with phony spiders and snakes. The eerie enclave is just one of the stops in a haunted maze attraction inspired by the "School's Out" headmaster at Universal Studios Hollywood's annual Halloween Horror Nights event.

In less than two weeks, Elizabeth Johnson will know whether she is deemed competent to stand trial in the case of her missing son Gabriel — or whether she is on her way to being committed to a state mental hospital.