{"id":15162,"date":"2016-03-08T17:42:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T17:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?post_type=blogpost&p=15162"},"modified":"2016-03-08T17:42:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T17:42:43","slug":"fellows-give-back-at-clark-park-carnival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/fellows-give-back-at-clark-park-carnival\/","title":{"rendered":"Fellows Give Back at Clark Park Carnival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each Challenge Detroit fellow is responsible for completing four hours of community\u00a0service in the city every month. Multiply that by the 31 fellows in the program and we\u00a0will have committed 1,500 service hours to this city by the end of the\u00a0fellowship (not\u00a0including special\u00a0service projects on Challenge Fridays, any additional hours that fellows\u00a0take on, and the service events we take part in\u00a0as a group).<\/p>\n

Our second service event as a cohort took place just a few weeks ago at Clark Park in\u00a0Southwest Detroit. For those who don’t know Clark Park, it serves as a hub for one of the\u00a0most dynamic and diverse areas in the city limits. But in addition to its “community\u00a0meeting place” status, it also offers year-long programming for hundreds of youth in the\u00a0area including tutoring, a chess club, learn-to-skate hockey, open skate, photo-journalism, baseball, soccer, arts and crafts, and so much more.<\/p>\n

But, as they say, “the people make the place,” and Clark Park is no different. Clark Park\u00a0used to be run by the city until it ran out of money in 1991. Instead of letting the park\u00a0become a wasteland as many parks did, the residents of Southwest Detroit banded\u00a0together and took control. As a group, they started a non-profit organization called the\u00a0Clark Park Coalition. Many of the people who helped save the park in ’91 can still be\u00a0found around\u00a0the office helping out, chatting with others, sitting in on board meetings,\u00a0or attending any one of the multitude of events offered. These are some of the most\u00a0down-to-earth, genuine people in the city and Detroit is lucky to have them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0740\"

A look at the Winter Carnival from above as the day of ice skating wrapped up. Photos taken by fellow Nadir Ali (3andathird.com).<\/p><\/div>\n

As a group of Challenge Detroiters, we were lucky to have the opportunity to volunteer\u00a0with them at one of the park’s latest events, the Clark Park Winter Carnival.\u00a0The fellows arrived at the park between 11am – 12pm to get their job assignments, take a\u00a0look around the park, and get some lunch. When 12 o’clock came around things were a\u00a0bit slow, but by 12:30 – 12:45 pm, the crowds were showing up in droves!<\/p>\n

Outside at the games center, kids were experimenting with the football\u00a0tire\u00a0toss,\u00a0cornhole, giant Jenga and a makeshift Slip-N-Slide. Others were sitting by the bonfires\u00a0roasting marshmallows and\u00a0enjoying a warmer winter day.<\/p>\n

Across the parking lot, dozens of families were lined up around a fence to feed Wilma\u00a0the Camel and Dali the Llama at the petting zoo. In between petting the different\u00a0animals people\u00a0waved back to those on the\u00a0carriage rides touring around the perimeter\u00a0of the park.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0737\"

A look at the Winter Carnival from above as the day of ice skating wrapped up. Photos taken by fellow Nadir Ali (3andathird.com).<\/p><\/div>\n

Behind the park office is Detroit’s only regulation-size outdoor ice rink. The rink was full\u00a0of skaters\u00a0and the lines to get into the main office building were sticking out the door,\u00a0which meant the face-painting and skate rooms were probably a complete madhouse.<\/p>\n

Upon further investigation, those suspicions were confirmed.\u00a0In the four hours of the carnival, fellows registered carnival-goers, tied ice skates,\u00a0checked out & returned skates, painted faces, sold Clark Park apparel, tended to\u00a0bonfires, passed out food and drinks, coached kids through\u00a0the games and helped them\u00a0feed animals.<\/p>\n

In the end, we were able to help roughly 2,000 people enjoy another great winter day in\u00a0Detroit!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0730\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each Challenge Detroit fellow is responsible for completing four hours of community\u00a0service in the city every month. Multiply that by the 31 fellows in the program and we\u00a0will have committed 1,500 service hours to this city by the end of the\u00a0fellowship (not\u00a0including special\u00a0service projects on Challenge Fridays, any additional hours that fellows\u00a0take on, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-givedetroit","category-give"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}