Dean Shepherd, Delaware Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year, Donates $1,000 To Bear-Glasgow YMCA
The Shepherd family is a mainstay at the Bear-Glasgow Y. Twin brothers Dean and Dylan have grown up attending various programs at the Y since they were three years old.
Dean, a standout basketball player for Tower Hill School, was named the Gatorade Delaware Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the 2022-2023 season. The award includes a $1,000 donation to the organization of his choosing. Dean chose to donate to the Bear-Glasgow YMCA.
“I put in a lot of hard work, time and dedication in the gym with my brother, father and mother, we always come to the Y,” Dean said. “They’ve been a part of my life since I was a child, they did a lot for me. They want to see you succeed and ultimately they want you to become a better person and impact the world around you. So that’s definitely why I chose to donate the thousand dollars and pay it forward to the Bear-Glasgow YMCA.”
Dean and Dylan would come to the Y with their mother Lyne at a young age to play in Kid Zone. They quickly became involved in youth sports programs, took swim lessons and attended summer camp.
“The boys started here,” Lyne said. “They won their championship here playing basketball and now they won their high school championship years later. They’re good human beings and I think it’s in part because of the Y. You know, they say it takes a village to raise children, the Y was definitely part of our village.”
Once basketball became the sport of choice for Dean and Dylan, they trained with their father Alphonso on the Bear-Glasgow Y basketball courts to prepare for each season. As they got older, the Shepherd twins quickly took to the array of teen programs off the court.
“They would constantly come to teen nights, they always helped with volunteer opportunities when we had our Healthy Kids Day and other community events here,” said Antonio Thornton, Teen Program Coordinator at the Bear Glasgow Y. “I’m just grateful for them to give back to the Y in that capacity.”
“Dean and his twin brother have been in almost all of our programs since age three,” said Terry Mullan, Community Vice President for the YMCA of Delaware. “To see him excel and to attribute this to some of the support that we’ve given him makes me so proud of the staff here. They are the YMCA’s number one resource.”
Dean Shepherd, who recently graduated high school, has committed to playing for the Delaware State University Basketball team. He hopes that the YMCA donation helps someone like him go to camp, learn to swim, or play a sport at the Y.
“The resources you have here, you have people that really care about you,” Dean said. “They really want you to develop and really want you to succeed in life as a young man or young adult going into the real world. So, the YMCA is definitely a place I would advocate for people to come to. And I would say always believe in yourself and pay it forward.”
Donations to the YMCA of Delaware help provide programs for kids and teens to develop and thrive in a safe and healthy environment. You can learn more and donate to the Y here.