(765) 284-3345info@ywcacenin.org!
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# Resale Shop
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The Resale Shop at YWCA is located in our building. The entrance is located on Jefferson Street between Adams and Charles streets. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
We carry a variety of gently-used items including adult clothing, children’s clothing and household items. We accept donations like dishware, linens, clothing and household items from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the YWCA’s main entrance.
Proceeds help women and their children who live at  the YWCA.
### Connect
### Mission
The YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, dignity and freedom for all.
**Phone Number:**
(765) 284-3345
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### Location
310 E. Charles St.
Muncie, Indiana 47305
© Copyright  YWCA Central Indiana. All Rights Reserved.
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# Community Sponsors
## HELP HER SPONSORS
!
## ENCOURAGE HER SPONSORS
## EMPOWER HER SPONSORS
!!!!!!!!!!!!
## LIFT HER SPONSORS
* AnneMarie Voss
* City of Muncie Human Rights Commission
* Farmhouse Creative
* Mary House
* Open Door Health Services
* Sarah Kundenreich
* Star Financial Bank
* SteVen Knipp Hair Studio
* Women in Business Unlimited
## SUPPORT HER SPONSORS
* Whitinger & Company
# Donate Here
YWCA Central Indiana is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, dignity and freedom for all. Your donation will help us to achieve our mission.
### You can support HER by donating:
* Monetary Donation
* Gift cards
* Clothing
* Working Appliances
* New Clothing
* Hygiene Items
Click the button below to donate.
Your donation will help us achieve our mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, dignity and freedom for all.
Thank you for your generosity and support which allows us to make a difference.
# Donation Wish List
You can click, shop and share. Amazon will deliver direct to our front door.
Donation drop off hours are Monday through Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm
Your donations are appreciated! Please review the list below for items we  use at the YWCA.
NEW clothing, especially under garments are always accepted.
If you will need assistance with your donation please call to schedule a time with our Facility Director, Leonard Tucker at 765-284-3345.
* Hygiene items
* Box Fans
* Non perishable foods
* AC Units
* Working appliances
* Dishes
* Tables
* Bath Towels and washcloths
* Books
* Gently used shoes
* Cleaning supplies
* Coffeemakers
* Manual Can openers
* Cooking sheets
* Cooking utensils
* Microwavable dishes and bowls
* Electric stoves
* Twin-sized sheets and blankets
* Glasses / cups
* Hair styling appliances
* African American hair care items
* New undergarments for adult women and children
* Kitchen towels and dishcloths
* Tupperware type containers
* Microwaves
* Paper serving items like plates, napkins, forks etc
* New Pillows
* Plastic flatware
* Pots & pans
* Refrigerators
* New 3 gallon trash cans
* New or gently used Laundry baskets
* Unused makeup
* Vacuum cleaners
**Items we do not accept include:**
* **Cribs**
* **Highchairs**
* **Car seats**
* **Stuffed animals**
* **Mattresses**
* **Cloth furniture**
* **Used Undergarments**
# Get Involved
#### **VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:**
The YWCA is always looking for volunteers! We offer a variety of opportunities that may spark your interest. Come teach an innovative class or fun workshop. Or if you’d rather: join the ladies in emergency shelter to cook meals or socialize.
**Download our volunteer packet **!**
To volunteer with us, please call (765) 284-3345. Alternatively, you can fill out the form at the end of our volunteer packet and mail that to us.
# Videos
# Contact Us
**Staff**
**Chief Executive Officer**
WaTasha Barnes Griffin
wgriffin@ywcacenin.org
**Director of Operations**Tracina Greenleaf
tgreenleaf@ywcacenin.org
**Facilities Director**
Leonard Tucker
ltucker@ywcacenin.org
**Residential Coordinator**Corrinne Russell
c.russell@ywcacenin.org
**Marketing Department**
info@ywcacenin.org
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**Mailing Address:**
 310 E. Charles Street
 Muncie, Indiana 47305
**HOURS OF OPERATION** including Donation drop off times.
**Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.**
**Phone Numbers:**
 (765) 284-3345
 (765) 289-0416 (fax)
The YWCA has internships on a seasonal basis in the residential and development offices. To learn more about opportunities available, email the appropriate contact for each department.
Find the YWCA’s Privacy Policies here, 
# Sign Up for Our Newsletter
### Fill out the form below to receive our newsletter.
# HEELS Fundraiser
Walk In HER HEELS, our annual fundraising event, saw 350 of our friends and supporters turn out for a sold-out event in 2024.
None of us can know what it is like for the individuals seated next to us – none of us can know what their lives are like at home – what they face, what their challenges are or how they manage them. That is, until we get to know them or maybe even walk in their shoes. And so, we’ve adopted and adapted this phrase – Walk in Her HEELS. Help. Empower. Encourage. Lift. Support.
It is our purpose – our mission – to get HER back on her feet and that may mean SHE needs to shift her personal trajectory by a degree or two. Small changes now make big changes later.
Sonya lived at the YWCA from 2018 to 2020. At her urging, we started an alcohol recovery program for residents. She stayed actively involved in her own recovery and continues to be sober today. She went from resident to valued employee, instrumental in setting up group activities, helped in the Twice As Nice Resale Shop, and worked our front desk overnight.
With the help of the YW, she was able to get her Social Security disability, move to an apartment in Indianapolis and reunite with her daughters.
While she was at the Y, Sonya wrote a poem about her experience. It’s called, “Yes, Me!”
At YWCA, we think about her words in a deep way.
Today, it is our mantra.
Her words linger and inspire us and we pray they do you, as well. Watch the video above.
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# YWCA Hosts Basketball Program Teaching More than Free Throws
For Najee Montgomery, basketball is much more than a game. He says he uses it as a vehicle for building character, and teaching life skills.
Montgomery leads Phenom Nation 765, an after-school athletic program for Muncie youth at the YWCA Central Indiana on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“We are a center for community impact,” said WaTasha Barnes Griffin, YWCA Central Indiana CEO. “We’re on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, promote social justice, help families, and strengthen our community. We see the value and the positive outcomes of the Phenom Nation 765 program and welcome the work they do.”
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Kids attend team practices, games, and travel competitions in Indiana and elsewhere. But more than athletic ability, the program aims to change the lives of at-risk youth by focusing on life skills, including thinking through problems, showing empathy toward others, and coping with emotions.
!!Founded by the late Terrance “Pac Man” Sevion in 2017, Phenom Nation 765 was created to give local kids the opportunity to come together, play at a competitive level, and learn about themselves and the world around them.
“[Terrance] felt like the kids in Muncie are phenomenal,” said Montgomery. “Whether they’re athletes, singers, or dancers, he saw that we had a lot of talent here that was overlooked. We’re called Phenoms as a reminder that the kids are phenomenal. It kind of just stuck.”
Since it started, the group has expanded significantly. Now, Montgomery and his team of coaches offer boys’ basketball for second through ninth graders; girls’ basketball for fifth through eighth graders, and football for several age groups. Boys’ basketball has around 115 players this season; girls’ basketball has close to 50. Several play both sports, which is by design.
“Between football and basketball, we try to keep the kids busy all year long so there isn’t much down time to where they could be getting into anything,” Montgomery said. “We’ve seen that if you don’t catch them early, you have to break bad habits. What we’re trying to do instead is build new, good habits.”
“We want to build to their character, their integrity, their heart, and their determination,” he said. “We want to help them be better kids, even if they don’t go on to play sports. We want them to learn something. We’re only teaching 30% sports. The other 70% is teaching life skills.”
This teaching often takes place at the YWCA’s gymnasium, which Phenom Nation 765 uses every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for its practices and games. Two Monday regulars are Damarion Kelley and Jabrian Roberson from Liberty Christian and Northside middle schools, respectively. Both boys have played on Montgomery’s basketball and football teams the last two years.
“It’s a fun and loving team,” said Kelley. “We all we got.”
“It’s a really good program,” echoed Roberson. “It keeps us out of trouble. Instead of most of the kids who are out by themselves in the streets, they have us in the gym with the team.”
“It’s a lot of fun, too,” he added. “When we travel, they have stuff planned for us to do. Like when we played in Cincinnati, we went to Kings Island.”
Last year, Kelley and Roberson’s basketball team made it to nationals, which they describe as an “amazing” experience for everyone involved.
Looking ahead, Montgomery hopes to see the group and its participants continue to grow, both as athletes and individuals.
“We treat this program like a brotherhood – a family,” he said. “There’s so much going on in the world and if we don’t catch kids early and tune them into something positive, they’ll resort to what’s going on around them. We’re here to switch the dynamic and give them a blueprint of how to be as young people and older adults in the world.”
# You’re Not Helping When You Give Panhandlers Your Cash
Did you know panhandling is unhealthy for the panhandler, and it is unhealthy for the community. When you give panhandlers your cash, it reinforces the behavior.
I know you think you’re helping when you slip $20 to a stranger, standing at the intersection holding a sign asking for cash for food or rent.
You’re not.
The reality is that giving to them is more about how it makes *you* feel than bringing lasting change or restoration to those who are struggling.
Our community is filled with resources and services that support their diverse needs. Some do not want to seek services from “systems.” They struggle to adhere to structural norms that conventional services require. Others work more deliberately, even within a small community of the unhoused, and share their daily draw over more conventional employment.
But do not judge. Addiction and mental health illness are often at the core of their actions.
The solution is supporting social services like what YWCA Central Indiana provides.
Panhandling is illegal in Indiana but an attempt a few years ago to broaden the statute was  as a Constitutional violation of the right to free speech. Increasingly, however, state legislatures are introducing bills to make it illegal to *give* to panhandlers. Legislation is  and , for example.
Policing the matter is challenging, as well.
What you can do is be kind. Acknowledge the individual standing at your window with a nod and a smile. Provide them with food or warm clothing over cash.
The problem of the unhoused is only . We need your support more than ever. Last year, YWCA Central Indiana doubled the number of women served year-over-year.
Homelessness is not an illness or a condition. It is a moment in time. Take a moment of your time to show empathy when you’re approached, perhaps direct individuals to services like ours and support our cause with what you would give to the panhandler. We’re making a difference and so can you.
Be well.