For over 20 years the Boothbay Region YMCA has partnered with the YMCA in Katwijk Holland in a student and camp counselor exchange program. This year, youth from Holland are traveling to Boothbay as part of the exchange during the last two weeks of July and the first week of August.

This ongoing relationship began as part of a national YMCA international partnership between Y’s in the states and those abroad. The Boothbay Region YMCA and the Katwijk Holland Y were paired because each is located in a small fishing village, in our case, on the Atlantic Ocean and in their case, on the North Sea. Hence, our logo, the Herring and the Lobsters, Friends Forever.

Through the years, more than 100 different YMCA youth, staff, campers and counselors from both Katwijk and Boothbay have regularly crossed the ocean to work, learn and play together.

Every two years there is an exchange. As an example, in the summer of 2012, a group of 10 youth and three adults from Boothbay traveled to Holland. Two years prior to that (summer 2010), the same local group from Boothbay hosted the Dutch in their homes. The overall goal of a two year exchange is to create lasting relationships with families from abroad, learn the history and culture of a foreign country, seize opportunity to travel, all shared by a common thread: the YMCA organization.

Summer 2014 is Boothbay’s summer to host our friends from Holland once again. Our YMCA is reaching out to local youth who are now in seventh grade through sophomores in high school who are not only interested in traveling abroad to Holland the summer of 2016, but whose families are willing to host a Dutch youth this summer in their home. Through the coordination of a Holland/Boothbay YMCA Committee represented by Y staff and volunteers, an itinerary for each exchange is planned. Some activities this summer may include a Sea Dogs game, the opportunity to go lobstering, the Burnt Island Lighthouse tour, a trip to Canobie Lake park along with an overnight in the White Mountains to hike and swim, cookouts, water skiing and tubing, a lobster bake, the list goes on and on. When our Y group visits Holland there is generally a week long bike trip involved, trips to Amsterdam and the Hague, beach time on the North Sea, visits to castles and learning the Dutch culture.

If you are interested in hosting a student or an adult chaperone this summer and traveling to Holland for nearly three weeks the summer of 2016, please contact Y International Committee Co-Chairmen Sandy Wheeler (207-633-3747 or 207-350-2597) and Andrew Morley (207-462-0155). Our goal is to form an interest list, host an informational meeting and confirm solid commitments by the end of April 2014.

Last, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club for its ongoing support of this program as well as the volunteers who coordinate the Y’s Annual Silent Auction held the last weekend in July each year. This year the Auction is scheduled for July 25-26. A portion of the proceeds from the auction go directly toward this international partnership.