Nearly 400 children stormed Kereiakes Park Thursday during Stand for Children Day 2000. The youngsters heard stories and blew bubbles; some romped on the playground .Its a lot of fun, said Trey Jackson of Bowling Green, the 7-year-old son of Missy Willis and Carl Jackson and a Super Summer Camp camper.
But the activities were more than fun for children from day care centers and summer camps. This is to advocate child health, safety and the right to grow up as productive citizens, said Anne Grubbs, enrichment coordinator for Community Education of Bowling Green-Warren County, which sponsored the event.
Hundreds of thousands of people across America were expected to participate in Stand For Children Day events this week, according to a report from Community Education. Stand for Children, a non-partisan organization, was founded in 1996 when more than 300,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to promote healthier children, the groups Web site said.
About 35 volunteers attended the Bowling Green event, which more than doubled the size of last years Stand for Children Day, according to Grubbs.
These kids are the next generation, said Charles Phillips, director of the Barren River Imaginative Museum of Science. Phillips, a Stand for Children Day volunteer, brought science projects to the park for youngsters to enjoy. If they don’t get started right, they never will go right, he said. Making sure children get a good start should be a community effort, said volunteer Frank Brown, director of the Barren River District Health Department. It takes a lot of people going out of their way to make sure a community is just that, Brown said after reading to the children. Good health starts with getting out, being active and being a part of the community. That’s why the health department got involved. Bowling Green Womans Club also donated time for Stand for Children Day and plans on making the idea the focus of their community improvement program, club President Vivian Foe said. Among other child advocacy projects, the club will provide low-cost training for day care workers in August, Foe said. We felt like we needed time to stand up for children and this would help our community, she said.
Grubbs hopes the event will help spawn a local chapter of Stand for Children to promote child advocacy throughout the year, she said. But even if it doesn’t, Grubbs hopes it will encourage adults to take a more active role in the lives of children. (People should) get involved with any youth anywhere, she said. Get to know the names of the youths in your neighborhood and speak to them. Were trying to get people re-energized into being a community.
Willis, Justin (2000, June). Event a push for kids’ health. Bowling Green Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.bgdailynews.com/event-a-push-for-kids-health/article_189feb3d-193c-5ffd-b595-c4d83980408c.html