Three groups at the McGaw YMCA have entered into a national YMCA contest that distributes grants to the winners who have garnered the most votes on their group’s contest page.

Evanston Swims!, Project SOAR and the MetaMedia Youth Center joined the contest, called My Fresh Page Project. The contest, which is in its third year, gives prizes of $5,000, $1,000 or $500 to ten winners. The voting period of the contest began at the beginning of September and ends Friday, according to its website.

“We do (the contest) because it helps engage anybody in the community,” said Kevin Dietz, the senior public relations manager for the YMCA of the USA. “It gives them the opportunity to fund a project that they may not otherwise have a chance to get funded. We’re looking for ideas big or small.”

Lori Siegel, associate operating officer and senior director of Swim, Sports and Play at the McGaw YMCA, 1000 Grove St., said she found out about My Fresh Page Project through a website available to all YMCA employees. Siegel entered Evanston Swims! before the other two McGaw YMCA programs entered the contest, she said.

Evanston Swims! is a partnership between the McGaw YMCA and Evanston/Skokie School District 65. The program brings second graders each month to the McGaw YMCA to help them learn how to swim. It currently serves about 300 second graders.

“For me, it’s about water safety education,” Siegel said. “Because our east border is Lake Michigan, it is truly inherent that every child learns how to swim in Evanston for safety.”

If they win, Evanston Swims! staff will use the contest money to buy additional supplies and expand the program since it is funded through donations, Siegel said. The contest will also help spread information about the program, she said.

Sue Sowle, the Youth Enrichment director at McGaw YMCA, said the other two groups, Project SOAR and the MetaMedia Youth Center, entered the contest after Sowle found out about the contest from Siegel.

The contest has three different grant levels: $5,000, $1,000 and $500. Siegel said she suggested the other two groups enter a different level than Evanston Swims!, which is in the $1,000 prize category.

Sowle entered MetaMedia in the $5,000 category and Project Soar is entered in the $500 category, according to My Fresh Page Project’s website.

Sowle said she did not think MetaMedia will win in its category. The center will provide a place for middle school students to hang out and will provide technology resources to students, among other things. The prize money would help the new space launch.

Project SOAR, a one-on-one mentoring program, does have a chance at winning with 615 votes as of Tuesday, Sowle said. Project SOAR is a program in which Northwestern students meet with fourth to eighth grade local students, she said.

Staff members are reaching out through social media, friends, family and community members to get votes for the programs, Sowle said.

Anyone can enter the program, Dietz said.

“If (people) have something they’re really passionate about, then they could have an outlet for that,” Dietz said. “That’s part of the Y’s commitment to social responsibility. We invest in the communities.”

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