Public Housing Community Carnival

Friday, June 30, 2006

It was overcast and a few drops of rain fell, but the open lawns behind the Boys and Girls Club were filled with youngsters from public housing!

I counted about 100. Many mothers were near by. Many teens from the churches helped with the games.

The children, from 3 to 13, were having playful designs painted on their faces, eating cotton candy and popcorn, jumping on the blow up jungle gyms, playing basketball, listening to Christian rock music - live on stage, and best of all, more times than not hitting the lever that dunked a game and grinning Bill Russell in his swimshorts into the raised tank. What a good sport!

Three churches Lakewood Ranch Presbyterian, Faith Church and Bethesda Outreach along with the Boys and Girls Club hosted this successful community carnival. I didn't see any Task Force members, but the ABC cameraman was leaving as I arrived so maybe there will be some coverage on the evening news.

The churches and youngsters cleaned up the grounds of the Boys and Girls Club earlier in the week and one of the minister's told me the youngsters enjoyed helping in the task.

I hope I got some good pictures of the celebration to share. My heart swells when these contained children look into my camera and smile, letting out their radiance.

Thanks to Karen, Bill and all those who made this a success!



Bill Russell, Executive Director of the Housing Authority, sits on the "hot seat".











Predictably, he gets "cooled off" with a big splash!












[Thanks to Jude Levy of the Public Housing Task Force for writing this story, and to Karen Curry, Housing Authority, for contributiong the pictures.]