Our History

YMCA Y-Adventure Guides is an evolution of the original YMCA Indian Guides program.

The Father and Son Y-Indian Guide program was initiated by Harold S. Keltner of the St. Louis YMCA in 1926. He organized the first tribe in Richmond Heights, Mo., with the help of his friend, Joe Friday, an Ojibwa Indian.

Joe Friday once said to Mr. Keltner as they sat around a blazing campfire: “The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, track, fish, walk softly and silently in the forest, know the meaning and purpose of life and all he must know.” These comments struck home, and Harold Keltner arranged for Joe Friday to work with him at the St. Louis YMCA. The Ojibwa indian spoke before groups of YMCA boys and dads in St. Louis, and Keltner discovered that fathers, as well as boys, had a keen interest in the traditions and ways of the American Indian. At the same time, he conceived the idea of a father and son program based upon the strong qualities of American Indian culture and life — dignity, patience, endurance, spirituality, feeling for the earth and concern for the family.

Thus, the Y-Indian Guide Program was born.

The father and son Y-Indian Guide program was developed to support the father’s vital family role as teacher, counselor, and friend to his son. After World War II, the success of the father/son program nurtured the development of other parent-child programs, including the father/daughter program, called Y-Indian Princesses.

For over 75 years, the program has been the cornerstone for family programs in YMCAs across the country. The YMCA’s commitment to being a caring, honest, respectful, and responsible organization, and an evolving cultural sensitivity of Native American history prompted YMCAs across the country to update their parent/child programs.

In the summer and fall of 2003, the newYMCA Y-Adventure Guides was launched in YMCA communities everywhere.