3rd Annual Family Play Day Attracts Thousands

SAN BERNARDINO >> The Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) kicked off their third annual Family Play Day this past Saturday as over two thousand community members flocked to join in on the family fun. With over fifty vendors, there were plenty of activities for kids of all ages ranging from face and hair paintings, making crafts, and even live performances. The party began at 10 a.m. as children filled the lots eager to join in on all the fun. There were various activities including First 5’s Talk, Read, Sing Play Zone, and live entertainment including Zumba by Genevieve Aparicio, Alive in the Lights” all-girl rock band from Richardson Prep, and Multi-Cultural Music Tree. CCRC’s Traci Brody, Resource and Referral Specialist and the instrumental force behind the event, explained, “The focus is for families to come out and just play…This is a fun opportunity for families to get local resource available to them that they might not have known about, from Molina Health Care to how to join Boy Scout and Girl Scout of America troops.” In addition to the booths filled with colorful crafts, bubbles, and games, there were packed lines of families on different sides of the event collecting free grocery products like cereal, snacks, fruit and vegetables, and several household products from the Honest Company. All items were donated. The food and grocery items were donated by Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino County (CAPSBC). According to Brody, Brandon Romano of CAPSBC played a key role in the donation. ”He’s absolutely amazing,” she added. There was also a separate line for various fruits and vegetables. CCRC furnished all the pallets of fruit from the farmer’s market to be given away. Brody explained that the goal was to have a wide range of fruits available. “We want the kids to see all the different kinds of fruit.” Over 6,000 fruits and vegetables were distributed to families. The Honest Company also donated pallets of household products, diapers, and vitamins to be given away. According to CCRC’s Cristen Sayegh, there were also over 21,600 diapers given away. Aside from all the food items, every child was also able to take home a free book. The books were collected and donated from CCRC’s Literacy Book Campaign “What A Difference A Book Makes”. “Every child that walks on our lot will be taking a book home with them today,” she said. “Two-thousand brand new children’s books found a new home.” San Bernardino resident Brandi Cortez joined in on the Saturday fun and brought along her eleven-month-old daughter Madisyn. “We wanted to come down and see what the CCRC has to offer. I’ve heard great things about them,” she said. “I think it’s so cool that they do events like this.” “The event gets bigger each year. The first year we had around one thousand attendees, the next about fifteen hundred, and this year over two-thousand…it’s really exciting,” Brody shared. “It was an awesome day for San Bernardino County families.” Brody added that they also have volunteers that help them with the event from Pacific High School’s AVID Program. Sponsors for the event includd: Molina, Teddy Bear Tymes, San Bernardino County Early Learning and Development Local Planning Council, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Lakeshore Learning Materials, and Inland Empire Father Involvement Coalition.