{"id":42949,"date":"2013-09-13T07:33:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T12:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=42949"},"modified":"2013-09-14T07:45:33","modified_gmt":"2013-09-14T12:45:33","slug":"ywcas-executive-director-excited-about-new-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/09\/13\/ywcas-executive-director-excited-about-new-position\/","title":{"rendered":"YWCA director excited about new job"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New YWCA Executive Director Tammy Branham works at her desk. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New YWCA Executive Director Tammy Branham said she is excited about her new job, after 21-plus years serving clients with mental disabilities, but also noted that the job also has its challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge because it\u2019s completely different from what I\u2019m used to doing,\u201d said Branham, a Van Wert native who has lived in Defiance the past 13 years.<\/p>\n

Branham, who has a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology from the University of Dayton, had been working in Fort Wayne, Ind., for more than two decades, but recently decided to take some time off \u00a0work to help care for a granddaughter. It was an eye-opening experience for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout three weeks into being home, I found I just couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d Branham said, adding that, while she still provides lots of support for her granddaughter, she also discovered she needed the stimulation of working.<\/p>\n

Although her new job is a change from what she is used to, it still involves working with people, and that\u2019s something that\u2019s important to the new YWCA director. \u201cI love working with people,\u201d Branham said, noting that she is also pleased with the YWCA\u2019s commitment to social service work.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up here, I always thought of the YWCA as a fitness facility,\u201d she said, adding that, while a student at Lincolnview High School (Class of 1986), she spent a couple of years as a student dance instructor for Pam\u2019s School of Dance, which then held classes upstairs at the YWCA.<\/p>\n

But even then, she said, she was pretty much unaware of the YW\u2019s housing services, which have been in place since the YWCA was built nearly 100 years ago, and are now provided by the expanded transitional housing program.<\/p>\n

Branham said she was particularly interested in the YWCA\u2019s new domestic violence program, stating she was amazed at how far-reaching the program is. \u201cI like the idea that it serves people in other counties, as well as here,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

She also appreciates the team atmosphere at the YWCA, where staff members actually work together to deliver its many services to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to work for a company where people work together as a team,\u201d Branham noted, adding that she would be lost without Program Director Danni Chiles and Jamie Evans, who heads up the transitional housing program at the YWCA.<\/p>\n

In addition to those programs, the YWCA also conducts the Summer Food Program, which provides meals to needy children throughout the county during the summer.<\/p>\n

The new YWCA director said she also believes strongly in the YWCA\u2019s mission statement: to empower women and eliminate racism. She also said it is important to ensure that the YWCA\u2019s social service programs continue to grow and prosper, while adding that she also wants to make sure community residents take advantage of what the YWCA has to offer, in the way of social services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here for the community, use us,\u201d Branham said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor New YWCA Executive Director Tammy Branham said she is excited about her new job, after 21-plus years serving clients with mental disabilities, but also noted that the job also has its challenges. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenge because it\u2019s completely different from what I\u2019m used to doing,\u201d said Branham, a Van Wert native who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 06:37:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}