Director
organization has delivered food to 375 households.
In addition to food, the organization also delivered care packages complete with hand sanitizer and masks, and, with the help of Project LEARN, distributed books for children to read at home. Teen programs were also moved to a virtual setting.
Among those programs was a new collaborative program that focuses on racial justice. The program links Lowell teens with others around the state through other local YWCAS. The idea for the program was born out of the recent issues in the country surrounding racism and police brutality.
Through the program, participants work together to conduct research and make public-service videos on a subject connected to racial justice. In Lowell, the participants are focusing on activism, Chandonnet said.
“We’re really excited it’s evolving,” Chandonnet said. “It’s just another way for young people from Lowell to realize there are young people across the state and other parts of the country experiencing some of the same issues they are.”
In discussing the many facets of his work, the drive behind Chandonnet’s passion and commitment is clear — it’s all about the kids.
“As a youngster, it struck a chord in me that I had adults who helped to steer me in a positive direction to provide support and guidance,” Chandonnet said. “I feel that I’m able to draw on that experience of my youth and be able to give that back to the young people that I’m working with.”
What keeps Chandonnet and Kobos going through their 35 years with the YWCA and the new challenges of the pandemic are the success stories they see in the kids who come through YWCA
Lowell.
“I’m amazed at the resiliency that I find with the teens,” Chandonnet said.
He related a story of one Lowell teen who was so committed to his YWCA group, he joined their virtual meeting from the laundromat where he was doing his family’s laundry.
Now in a virtual setting, maintaining connections for those kids and their families is more important than ever.
“There are families at incredible risk for food insecurity, risk for academic failure for their children, risk losing their housing,” Chandonnet said, “and we fill part of that role and assist them in finding the resources, and assist them to keep some connection in all this.”
Over the summer, the YWCA Lowell’s youth center on Rock Street launched a summer-camp program in its new tech center. Through the program, the 16 children had their own socially distanced space set up with activity kits and Chromebooks. The program also served breakfast, lunch and snacks.
In October, the YWCA will use that same space to offer remote learning space for 20 students in elementary and middle schools. The program will run during the traditional school day and will provide students with a reliable space and resources to attend school remotely. With the help of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, the program will continue to provide meals.
Other supporters include Sanborn Head & Associates in Westford, which donated supplies, and the Massachusetts chapter of Strongher Mass., which organized donations of backpacks with supplies collected from Nokia employees in Westford.
According to Kobos, the tech center was already in the works before COVID19, but when the pandemic hit, it sped up the timeline to get the program up and running.
The initial idea for the center came after Chandonnet, Kobos and the team at the youth center came to recognize a widening digital divide among the families they serve.
“We had been talking about the need to improve the skills and access to technology that our families needed in order to stay competitive,” Kobos said.
The initial idea was not only to provide children with access to technology in the tech center, but also to make it available to parents in the evening to get help with technology. In setting it up, Kobos handled the fundraising while Chandonnet handled much of the program’s nuts and bolts, including designing the space and reaching out to families.
“He’s got his finger on the pulse of what the needs are in our families,” Kobos said.
According to Kobos, the children who attended the tech center’s summer pilot program did well. She believes the success was due to the children’s comfort at the youth center.
“I think they have a connection, their families have a connection,” Kobos said. “It’s a place where they come for lots of fun things. It’s been in the neighborhood for a long time.”
That comfort and success are thanks, in part, to Chandonnet.
“He’s creative, he’s smart, he’s energetic and, most of all, he has an amazing passion for the work and that hasn’t dwindled one iota in the 35 years we’ve been working together,” Kobos said.