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United Way hosts ninth annual A Day in the Park

July 12, 2019

HARLINGEN — As firefighters from the Harlingen Fire Department continued to carve slices of watermelon, handfuls of eager children stood in a line nearby eagerly awaiting their turn to get a piece.

Nathael Zambrano, 5, was one of those kids.

With a large smile on his face, Nathael ran to go sit with his friend and began taking bites from the refreshing snack.

United Way of Northern Cameron County hosted its ninth annual A Day in the Park event yesterday at Lon C. Hill Park that drew in hundreds of visitors.

From hula hoop contests to story time with Mayor Chris Boswell and even roasting marshmallows to make s’mores, many kids spent their summer afternoon playing in the park.

Several daycare centers travel each year from around the Valley to take their kids to the park festivities.

Imelda Barbosa, a child caretaker with Mommy’s Daycare Learning Center in Los Fresnos, said they’ve taken their kids for about the past four years.

“The kids are always excited about Day in the Park because they remember how much fun they had here the year before,” she said. “They like stopping by each activity station because there is always something different.”

The Salvation Army of Harlingen was one of many local organizations offering their services at the event.

Salvation Army Bookkeeper and Office Coordinator Debora Haynes passed out free books, backpacks and lollipops to the kids.

“This event is fantastic because we’re able to get kids reading and be involved with the community,” Haynes said. “It’s a wonderful experience to see that every year brings more activities to kids and provides them with more.”

According to Kathy Preddy, United Way of Northern Cameron County’s Resource Development Director, A Day in the Park is designed to encompass both literacy activities as well as physical.

“We’re trying to show children reading is fun and through this experience, they have the opportunity of going home with a book to read this summer,” she said. “Some children possibly don’t have books in their homes or it’s not affordable for their parents to buy books so we want to make sure every child that comes to us this summer has a book to read.”

In addition to story time, children were shown the process of creating a book — from writing a story to drawing its characters.

Preddy said the goal of the activity is to inspire children to create their own story by showing them how much fun it is.

“We encourage children to read more and be creative because especially through this event we’ve seen they really do enjoy it,” Preddy said.

DID YOU KNOW

• United Way of Northern Cameron County created A Day in the Park nine years ago.

• The annual event is hosted each summer at Lon C. Hill Park next to the Harlingen Boys and Girls Club.