GILROY
– Inside the cool, dim room at the Wheeler Community Center,
about 30 kids take a break from their activities in the Gilroy
Summer Playground Program to listen to city employees read
stories.
GILROY – Inside the cool, dim room at the Wheeler Community Center, about 30 kids take a break from their activities in the Gilroy Summer Playground Program to listen to city employees read stories.
The employees give up part of their lunch breaks to read to the kids, who range from ages 6 to 12. So far, doctors, firemen, dads, cheerleaders and many others have given their time at Wheeler and three other parks: Luigi Aprea, Las Animas and Rod Kelley.
On Tuesday, the kids at Wheeler fidgeted as they waited for their reader, Jennifer Silveira, assistant to Gilroy’s police chief.
“I thought it would get me out of my element … and it’s something nice to do for the kids,” Silveira said. She found out about the Summer Playground Program through an e-mail that Program Coordinator Geralyn Fortino sent to all Gilroy offices, requesting readers.
“I was a little nervous, since I hadn’t read to kids in a while,” Silveira said. She practiced reading before she came, so that she could deliver a good show for the kids, some of whom cheered when they saw her book: “Miss Spider’s Tea Party.”
“I even brought my little Miss Spider with me,” she told the kids, holding up a bright yellow stuffed spider before sitting down to read.
However, the reading is only a part of the Summer Playground Program. In between story time, games and arts and crafts, the kids at the four different locations work on various community service projects.
“We believe that it’s more humbling to receive, and it’s more joyous to give,” Fortino said. She added that many of the kids only get, and “they need to feel [the giving] end of it.”
So far, the kids have started canned food drives, passed out home-made cookies, held a penny drive for school supplies, and planted flowers for seniors. Some have even gotten local businesses involved. Coldstone Creamery will match the amount that the program raises for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Many of the ideas were very traditional,” Fortino said. “The kids do what they know best.”
The program is drop-in style and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is a one-time registration fee of $5 for the summer, but the program ends on Aug. 6.
For more information on the program, or to schedule a reading time, contact Fortino at 846-0460.
