Santa Monica Family YMCA Celebrates Belonging During Welcoming Week

Cultural Recipe Card Swap to kick off the week-long celebration on September 12th, 2025

The Santa Monica Family YMCA will be joining Welcoming America, other organizations, and YMCA throughout the country to celebrate Welcoming Week, September 12th – 21st, 2025. Welcoming Week elevates the growing movement of communities that fully embrace all community members and their contributions to the social fabric of our country. 

This week-long celebration is an opportunity for neighbors to get to know one another and celebrate what unites us as a community. In Santa Monica, our YMCA will host a week of classes, activities, and community  events designed to showcase the dimensions of diversity and cultural riches of the people who make up our community.

“At the Santa Monica Family YMCA, we truly believe that belonging begins with us and that our community is stronger when everyone feels welcome and collaborates for the common good.” said Caity King, Mission Advancement Director. “We are proud to participate in Welcoming Week, showcasing how people from all backgrounds come together in communities both large and small to build stronger connections, This is a time to celebrate the shared values that unite us as neighbors, parents, and colleagues, making our community more welcoming to all.”

In our 2025 Welcoming Week Calendar, you’ll find a variety of offerings lifting up cultures that contribute to tour vibrant community. Whether you choose to join us for a group exercise class inspired by cultures from around the world, a movie screening night stacked with fun crafts, participate in our Recipe Card Swap or Cultural Book Exchange, or join us for our big event on Thursday, the Welcoming Week Cultural Showcase, we hope you get curious about your neighbors and how everyone’s heritage, culture, and spirit contribute to the vibrant community we call home. Below, you’ll find more details about each event during Welcoming Week!

Want to showcase your culture? Connect with us!

The goal of this annual event is to invite an exchange of cultures and traditions from all over, learning from our neighbors and building deeper, more welcoming relationships. Our YMCA is incredibly diverse, serving people from all backgrounds, languages, countries of origin, and identities – and what a beautiful thing that is! We want to lift up the value that our community members bring to The Y and we’re inviting you to our Welcome Week Cultural Showcase. At this community fair, neighbors will bring treats and snacks from their cultures, enjoy engaging arts & crafts, enjoy a cultural dance performance, and peruse cultures showcased by fellow neighbors. If you are interest in highlighting your culture or sharing treats & snacks from your people, please fill out this form! 

Learn More About Our Welcoming Week 2025 Events & Activities

• • Cultural Recipe Card Swap – 9.12.25 @ 10:00AM: Join us as we kick off Welcoming Week with a Cultural Recipe Card Swap as people are invited to bring a one of their favorite recipes to share with neighbors. Our goal is for everyone to leave with recipes from a variety of cultures and an appetite to learn more. We’ll happily help make copies and continue to share recipes to Y members throughout the week.
  • Gustavo’s Latin Groove – 9.12.25 @ 6:00PM: Are you ready to move & groove!!! In this Latin dance class you will move, sweat and have some fun while dancing with one of our amazing instructors, Gustavo!
  • Zumba w/ Carrie – 9.13.25 @ 9:15AM: High energy, invigorating, and FUN class to get you moving to the rhythm. Learn choreography and build on your moves each week as you blast calories and dance it out.
  • Vinyasa Yoga w/ Charlene – 9.13.25 @ 10:45AM: This class helps you build overall strength and flexibility, where poses are linked together with the breath in a flowing sequence. Please bring your own mat for this invigorating yoga practice, emphasizing the flow of movement between poses, synchronized with the breath. The word “vinyasa” means “to place or arrange in a special way” in Sanskrit, rooted in the ancient practice of Hatha yoga.
  • Yoga Flow – 9.14.25 @ 9:00AM: Through this yoga practice you will combine movement with breath for a dynamic workout complimented with breathwork and deep stretching. Please bring your own mat – other props will be provided as needed. Yoga, a practice over 5,000 years old from ancient India, has evolved over millennia becoming a central pillar of Indian philosophy & spirituality.
  • Kyoko’s Yoga Flow – 9.15.25 @ 11:45AM: Through this yoga practice you will combine movement with breath for a dynamic workout complimented with breathwork and deep stretching. Please bring your own mat – other props will be provided as needed. The use of the word “yoga” can be traced back to the Rig Veda, a collection of ritual hymns used to maintain order in the universe.
  • Hatha Inyengar Yoga w/ Gordon – 9.15.25 @ 1:00PM: A system of yoga postures and breathing techniques for all people of all ages and all abilities. Precise movement, sequencing, and alignment is emphasized. The term “Yoga” refers to yoking the physical self with the spiritual world, laying the groundwork for the development of a whole host of spiritual practices that are all part of the yogic tradition.
  • Tai Chi w/ Helene – 9.15.25 @ 3:00PM: Yang style Tai Chi practiced in a slow, relaxed manner to quiet our mind, improve circulation, strengthen your legs, and improve concentration. The unity of movement, breathing, and concentration contributes greatly to physical and mental health. Originated in the mid-19th century in China, Tai Chi use the body efficiently with the least amount of effort and is known for its health benefits, meditation, and self-defense.
  • Salsa Dancing w/ Alexis – 9.15.25 @ 5:30: Join us for this special event with Alexis, a professional Salsa Dancer. Whether you’re a beginner or more experienced dancer, this structured and progressive program will challenge you with styling and technique from the very beginning. You’ll learn to dance smoothly through transitions with a partner, and in “shine sequences.” The word “salsa” in Spanish means “sauce”, and like the name implies, salsa dance and music is a mixture of many different ingredients. The place where the disparate ingredients came together to create the unique blend we know today is in the Caribbean islands, particularly the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. We hope you’ll enjoy the rhythms and movement of the Afro-Caribbean music and dance.
  • Gustavo’s Latin Groove – 9.16.25 @ 10:30AM: Are you ready to move & groove!!! In this Latin dance class you will move, sweat and have some fun while dancing with one of our amazing instructors, Gustavo!
  • Cultural Cooking Class – 9.16.25 @ 12:00AM: Join us for a volunteer-led cooking class and dive into flavors of other cultures. Ingredients and supplies will be provided. Come with an open mind and a big appetite!
  • Studio Ghibli Screening Night – 9.16.25 @ 5:30PM: Join us for a fun moving screening of a Studio Ghibli film (title TBD), celebrating Japanese animation, storytelling, and art. Attendees will be able to enjoy an origami practice, watch the film, tea, and treats inspired by Japan.
  • Loteria – 9.17.25 @ 10:30AM: Join us for some Loteria on Wednesday, September 17th! Loteria (Spanish word meaning “lottery”) is a game played all over Central and South America as a game of change, similar to bingo. The game is played with a card of assorted images – every card has a different order. As the caller draws cards from a deck, they call the images to be marked. Come join in on the fun and try your luck at Loteria!
  • Yoga Flow w/ Emily – 9.17.25 @ 4:45PM: This class explores the depths of asanas, practicing breath work and meditation.  It will combine yin, restorative, and extra slow vinyasa along with yogic philosophy.  It is suitable for all abilities and experiences. Yin yoga is a practice that focuses on stretching and releasing the body’s connective tissues, such as tendons, ligaments, and fascia.
  • Bollywood Class w/ Manasi – 9.17.25 @ 6:00PM: Come move and celebrate with this high energy dance class to all the best Bollywood music! Bollywood dance is an energetic, fusion-based style that combines classical Indian and folk dances with Western influences like hip-hop and jazz, characterized by dynamic movements, footwork, and hand gestures. The style is diverse and adaptable, featuring colorful costumes, props, large ensembles, and elaborate backdrops that reflect the stories and music of Bollywood films. 
  • Welcome Week International Potluck – 9.18.25 @ 12:00PM: Bringing together international cuisines, we invite our community to come together and break bread…pita…naan…tortillas…injera…cornbread… and sharing dishes from our respective cultures! Bonus points for bringing recipe cards to share as we enjoy fellowship over plates of delicious foods!
  • Welcome Week Cultural Showcase – 9.18.25 @ 5:00PM: Join us at this community fair where we can learn from the incredible neighbors who make The Y the place where we can all be, belong, and become. Enjoy treats and snacks, peruse displays of cultures put together by community members, international arts & crafts activities, and cultural performances.
  •  Cultural Book Exchange – 9.19.25 @ 10:30AM: Bring a book inspired by your culture and heritage and trade with a friend at The Y! This exchange is for our bookish friends who love to learn and enjoy connecting with others over a shared passion for literature. Fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, and everything in between is welcome. 
  • Coco Screening Night – 9.19.25 @ 5:30PM: Join us for a fun moving screening of a Coco, celebrating the Mexican traditions around Dia de los Muertos through music, dance, and veneration of our ancestors. Attendees will be able to enjoy paper flowers craft and sugar skull face-painting, watch the movie, and Mexican Treats.
  • Zumba w/ Carrie – 9.20.25 @ 9:15AM: High energy, invigorating, and FUN class to get you moving to the rhythm. Learn choreography and build on your moves each week as you blast calories and dance it out.
  • Vinyasa Yoga w/ Charlene – 9.20.25 @ 10:45AM: This class helps you build overall strength and flexibility, where poses are linked together with the breath in a flowing sequence. Please bring your own mat for this invigorating yoga practice, emphasizing the flow of movement between poses, synchronized with the breath. The word “vinyasa” means “to place or arrange in a special way” in Sanskrit, rooted in the ancient practice of Hatha yoga.
  • Yoga Flow – 9.21.25 @ 9:00AM: Through this yoga practice you will combine movement with breath for a dynamic workout complimented with breathwork and deep stretching. Please bring your own mat – other props will be provided as needed. Yoga, a practice over 5,000 years old from ancient India, has evolved over millennia becoming a central pillar of Indian philosophy & spirituality.