A 'Batch' of advice
FRANKLIN TWP — Charlie Batch offered three pieces of advice Thursday night to a crowd at The Atrium.
Be ready. Be resilient. Be a pro.
Batch, former Steelers quarterback, television personality and YMCA supporter, was the keynote speaker at Butler County YMCA's annual celebration dinner.
Batch, a native of Homestead, Allegheny County, said he had to be resilient when his younger sister was shot and killed, caught in the crossfire of gang violence, while he was attending college at Eastern Michigan University.
“I go home and all my boys are waiting on me, they said, 'Charlie, we know who did this, let's go get 'em,'” Batch said.
But Batch decided to step back from his emotions and avoid doing anything that would put his dream of playing professional football in jeopardy.
“I just didn't want to sit in jail for the rest of my life,” he said.
He also shared the story of the 2010 Steelers season, when he started the year as the fourth-string quarterback, but ended up starting several games after Ben Roethlisberger was suspended and two others were injured.
He said he had to be ready to play, be resilient to sit while others got opportunities ahead of him, and be a professional when he had a bad game and had to accept responsibility.
Though the Steelers lost the Super Bowl that year to the Green Bay Packers, he was a member of the team in its two most recent championship seasons.
“If you don't believe sports and communities go together, how else can you get 300,000 people together in downtown Pittsburgh? The Steelers did it,” he said.
After retiring at the end of the 2012-13 season, Batch got involved with the media and with his Best of the Batch Foundation, through which he runs a youth basketball league in Pittsburgh. He also became a regular at his YMCA.
“The Y is an important part of the community. I deal with it every day. I see the kids who are impacted by it,” he said.
YMCA finances and annual campaign
One week after the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh filed for bankruptcy, officials with the Butler YMCA wanted to reassure members and supporters that the organization here is strong, chief volunteer officer Larry Black said Thursday.
“Revenue met expenses last year and that is significant,” Black said.
A financial report distributed showed that in 2017 the YMCA had $428,679 in community support and $8.04 million in revenue from memberships, programs and other sources. With $8.47 million in expenses, the organization finished in the black, with $60 to spare.The YMCA's programs touched 27,000 individuals last year.CEO Dave Hilliard shared stories about how the YMCA and its staff can help people in the community. He said he met with a woman who lives with fibromyalgia, a disorder that causes fatigue and widespread pain, who told him that the YMCA's warm-water pool changed her life and gave her the ability to get out of bed and be active.“When people experience the Butler County Family YMCA, they feel that they belong to a charitable cause that truly does transform lives,” Hilliard said.Tammy Schuey, chairman of the annual support campaign and Butler Eagle assistant general manager, reported that the YMCA has already raised $190,000 toward its goal of $350,000 this year.The money raised through donations in the annual campaign, formerly called the Strong Kids Campaign, goes toward a number of programs to support the community, Schuey said.“We impact lives from young to old,” she said.The YMCA provides scholarships to community members who could not afford a membership. It also offers free classes to seniors through a partnership with the county Area Agency on Aging, free classes to families affected by addiction through a partnership with the Gaiser Center, free meals for children during the summer and free classes for veterans.To find out how to contribute, visit bcfymca.org.
