Good Sports Volunteers Pitch In, Have Fun At Kidsweek
The experts were on.
On the football field: Ferris High School head coach Clarence Hough. On the baseball diamond: one-woman cheering section Susan Meyer. On fingernails: Angela Green.
As KidsWeek draws an estimated 40,000 participants this week, expert volunteers are spending their days showing kids what they love. All kinds of kids.
Big kids, little kids, crying kids.
“I’m not sure how is this going to work,” said one volunteer Tuesday as tiny children poured into a sports clinic at Chester Elementary.
By 10 a.m, the official start time, chairwoman Val Kjack was tearing name tags in half to make sure everyone was identified. Of the 125 children who showed up for free baseball, football and soccer instruction, a surprising number were under 6. Just avoiding the wild pitches took agility.
“Whoa, that little girl has an arm on her,” Meyer said, as a preschooler named Gina threw a baseball.
In her black Pacific Gas Transmission Co. T-shirt, Meyer was one of four current or retired employees who spent their morning playing with other people’s kids.
“It was so fun last year, we volunteered again,” said Meyer, her company’s community relations specialist. “I love it.”
From sports clinics to drama instruction to a manicure clinic led by Green at Rae’s Beauty Supply in University City Mall (“that green really works with glitter”), kids had an array of free or low-cost choices.
Sports clinics were a huge hit with younger children, while older teens are looking forward to an all-day battle of the bands Saturday at Riverfront Park.
“The whole event has taken a really big step,” said Nate Jones, a recent Shadle High graduate who served on a teen planning committee. “There’s just a lot more stuff happening this year.”
Joanne Benham, youth director for the city of Spokane, said: “If we want to have young people who grow up and stay here, they need to feel they belong here. This exposes them to all the wonderful opportunities and resources we have.”
A former player got Ferris coach Hough involved last year. The coach returned Tuesday with eight of his senior players who steered children under 12 through football basics in the Valley and West Central neighborhood. Baseball coaches from Shadle Park and Nine Mile Falls also pitched in.
Organizers raise about $20,000 to stage the event and another $80,000 in in-kind contributions.
Nearly 700 kids also get free passes to events.
KidsWeek started in 1984 as a children’s day and has since grown to an eight-day event with 100 activities and a part-time, paid coordinator, Alison Burns. She’s always trolling for more experts.
“People are busy,” Benham said.
“But busy people are also the people who get things done.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo