On Friday, August 1, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens hosted the Sixth Annual Kids Fun Day in Astoria, Queens. Co-sponsored by Fidelis Care of New York, the event was held along Newtown Avenue in Astoria where Catholic Charities Queens Community Center and Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church is located.
Kids Fun Day is the highest attended community event for Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, with more than 1,300 people from the surrounding neighborhoods out to enjoy an exciting day of fun and family-friendly activities. Through this annual event, CCBQ works to ensure that children and their parents have the necessary tools and resources for a great school year, while at the same time creating a day where families can celebrate the summer and spend time together.
Click here and here for photo galleries of Kids Fun Day!
The day’s activities ranged from music and dancing hosted by Radio Disney, to clay art organized by the Queens Museum of Art, a rock climbing wall sponsored by the NYPD, a bounce house, an FDNY safety house, and more. Children received drawstring bags filled with school supplies, healthy snacks, as well as other free giveaways. Special guests Dora and Diego and Johnny Thunderbird, the mascot from St. John’s University were particularly popular among the younger attendees and went around taking photos and dancing with the children.
Information tables from Fresh Air Fund, Achieve Beyond, Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence and various health screenings were also on-site to provide important resources on safety and health for families. In addition, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens provided information on its many programs and services such as the Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP), ESL classes, WIC Program, Community Center workshops/programs and more. Donated books from the Pajama Program were distributed by volunteers working from Catholic Charities Queens Community Center, while 29 volunteers on a mission trip from Saint Frances de Sales in Holland, Mich., helped out with hula-hoop and basketball games and a water sprinkler. Lunch food was donated by Poa & ChaCha Latin Asian Kitchen.
Some of the successes of the event included 100 people screened by The Floating Hospital, 270 people screened by the New York Hospital Queens Pediatric Asthma Unit (mobile van), 180 people signed up for more information with the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, 27 people were screened for the Queens WIC Program and 50 families signed their children up for the Catholic Charities Queensbridge and St. Margaret Mary Early Childhood Development Centers. More than 150 Safe Child ID cards were created by the NYPD. Cards included a photo of the child and their finger print, as well as the child’s vital information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, weight, hair color and eye color.
“What started out as a simple donation of school supplies has transformed into an annual event that the community and other organizations now look forward to,” remarked Debbie Hampson, Director of the Catholic Charities Queens Community Center and organizer of Kids Fun Day. “I am grateful for all the support this event has received. It is an opportunity for the community to come together with local providers, businesses, volunteers and staff for fun, information and networking. Together we really can make a difference.”
Activities & Resource Tables Included:
FDNY Safehouse
Floating Hospital (Blood Pressure Screenings)
New York Coalition for Transportation Safety: bike helmet fitting & safety instruction
NYPD Rock Wall Climb, Operation Safe Child Kits
Bounce House
Cooling Station
NY Hospital Queens Pediatric Asthma Unit
Queens Museum of Art – Clay Crafts
New York State Department of Conservation (Animal tracking game)
New York Civil Courts mobile unit
Girl Scouts of Greater New York
Information Tables from: Achieve Beyond, Fidelis Care New York, The Fresh Air Fund, Grace Institute, Hearst Burn Center at New York Presbyterian, Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, NYC DOHMH Healthy Homes Program, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens Latino S.T.E.P. Up, Young Adult Internship Program, Queens Community Center, ESL Program, WIC Program, St. Margaret Mary ECDC and Queensbridge ECDC
Other Sponsors and Contributors Included:
Fidelis Care New York
Rock Can Roll
Radio Disney
Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church
Pajama Program Headquarters and Reading
Anita & Margarita – Children’s Party Entertainment
Poa & ChaCha Latin Asian Kitchen
St. John’s University Department of Athletics
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