Triunfo YMCA to host Indian Guides registration barbecue

NATIVE CULTURE—The Indian Guides program was founded nearly a century ago as a way to help fathers and sons bond while learning the ways of the American Indian culture. Today, the YMCA program is still thriving, having expanded to include programs for fathers and daughters. The Triunfo YMCA will host an Indian Guides registration barbecue from 5 to 7 p.m. Sun., Sept. 13 at Willow Elementary School, 29026 Laro Drive, Agoura Hills.

Children and parents will learn about Indian Guides and Princesses, Trailblazers and Papoose programs. Y-Indian Guides is for families with children in preschool through sixth grade.

The YIndian Guides was developed in 1926 by Harold Keltner of the St. Louis YMCA with the help of his friend Joe Friday, an Ojibwa Indian, and William Hefelfinger, chief of the first Y-Indian tribe in Richmond Heights, Mo.

Friday spoke before groups of YMCA sons and dads in St. Louis, and Keltner discovered that fathers, as well as boys, had a strong interest in the traditions and ways of the American Indian. More than 70 years later, a quarter of a million children and adults now take part in the program each year.

Indian Papooses, for fathers and their son or daughter age 3½ to prekindergarten, is designed to get an early start on fostering understanding and companionship between parent and child.

Y Indian Guides and Princesses, for fathers and their son or daughter in kindergarten through second grade, develops understanding and companionship between parent and child.

Y Trailblazers, for fathers and their son or daughter in third through sixth grades, is a continuation for older children of the YMCA Indian Guide programs.

Y-Trailblazers offers children more challenging and varied experiences while teaching leadership and responsibility.

Triunfo YMCA staff and YGuide volunteers will be at the event to answer questions, demonstrate activities and sign up program members.

Parents and children meet monthly in neighborhood tribes, usually at the home of one of the families. 

For more information, call Veronica Rodarte at (818) 7079622 or e-mail vrodarte @triunfoymca.org.

The Triunfo YMCA serves Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and Oak Park.