Purpose
Download our Flyer about the program (pdf)Princesses
The purpose of the Y-Princess program is to foster understanding and companionship between father and daughter.
Slogan
"Friends Always"
Aims
1. To be clean in body and pure in heart.
2. To be friends always with my father/daughter.
3. To love the sacred circle of my family.
4. To listen while others speak.
5. To love my neighbor as myself.
6. To seek and preserve the beauty of the Great Spirit's work in forest, field and stream.
Pledge
"We, father and daughter, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spirit."
Guides
The purpose
of the Y-Guides program is to foster understanding and companionship
between father and son.Slogan
"Pals Forever"
The slogan, "Pals Forever" does not mean that father and son relate to each other as equals, such a two boys who are pals. Rather, it means that father and son have a close, enduring relationship in which there is communication, understanding and companionship. The Y Indian Guide Program encourages such a relationship by providing a means for father and son to share enjoyable experiences, to observe and learn about one another, and to develop mutual respect.
Aims
1. To be clean in body and pure in heart.
2. To be pals forever with my father/son.
3. To love the sacred circle of my family.
4. To listen while the others speak.
5. To love my neighbor as myself.
6. To seek and preserve the beauty of the Great Spirit's work in forest, field and stream.
Pledge
"We, father and son, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spririt."
History
From small beginnings, the Y-Programs have grown to serve many thousands of people.The first Y-Guide Programs were developed to support parents' vital role as teachers, counselors and friends to their children. Harold S. Keltner, St. Louis YMCA Director, initiated the program 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 Indian, and William H. Hefelfinger, Chief of the first Y-Indian Guide Tribe.
The rise of the family YMCA following World War II, the genuine need for supporting little girls in their personal growth, and the demonstrated success of the father-son program nurtured the development of YMCA parent-daughter groups. The mother-daughter program, now called Y-Indian Maidens, was established in South Bend, Indiana, in 1951. Three years later, father-daughter groups, now known as Y-Princesses, emerged in Fresno, California YMCA.