FUN ON WHEELS
City parks’ van program brings variety of activities to pandemic-safe small groups
Twelve-year old Jeremy Thompson has hardly played his favorite sport — soccer — since school went virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Thanks to a new city Parks and Recreation Department initiative called Recreation on Wheels, he finally got the chance.
“It was so fun to breathe fresh air and meet some new people,” he said.
Calling the effort “an ice cream truck on steroids,” Parks and Recreation Director John Muñoz said the idea, which debuted last week, was developed to give kids like Thompson something productive and safe to do as the
pandemic enters its 10th month. The department has outfitted two vans with racks of books, games, athletic equipment, arts and crafts, and science projects.
Parents can reserve time slots — usually 30 to 40 minutes — and the vans arrive with all the fun. The length of a session is based on the size of the groups (five at a time) and the desire to give as many kids an opportunity as possible.
“Kids are stuck at home looking at the screen,” Muñoz said.
“Sometimes we look at movement as a luxury … and it’s not. It’s not just good for your physical well-being, it’s good for your mental well-being,” he said.
Muñoz also made sure the vans included built-in iceboxes so kids could have a selection of ice cream as soon health restrictions allow.
“We need this more than ever,” he said. “The idea is that if families can’t come to us, we’ll go to them.”
Jeremy’s mother, Susy Ceja, reserved
RECREATION ON WHEELS
◆ Sessions for vans are by appointment only for a maximum of five participants. Hours are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (or dusk) on weekdays. No services are offered on scheduled holidays.
◆ For information and to reserve a slot, visit chavezcenter.com or the Genoveva Chavez Community Center Facebook page at facebook.com/chavez communitycenter, or call 505-955-4065 or 505-405-4066.
one of the program’s slots last week. At the appointed time, a brightly colored van showed up near her house, complete with youth program facilitators and lots of soccer balls.
“Everything about it was amazing,” she said, noting the difficulty many parents have faced in trying to give children enough to do.
Although most of the van’s activities are geared toward children and young adults, they are also meant to be a gift for parents and guardians, Munoz said.
“The lockdown has been intense for parents in general,” she said. “It’s expensive, hard and stressful to have my kids at home all day and try to get them to do their homework while I’m also working from home.
“Just getting them out of the house is wonderful,” she said.
“It’s ingenious,” agreed Brian
Gutierrez, a father of four. “As far as recreation, they haven’t been able to do hardly anything for months. They’re ready to give up their electronic devices for a chance to play outside.”
He said his kids were excited for a visit from the van when the program was unveiled last week.
“I could see it breaking the monotony,” Gutierrez said.
The vans are staffed by a rotating team of nine youth facilitators who have been trained in COVID-19 safety and making kids feel comfortable. Most speak Spanish.
Each session starts with the facilitators going over coronavirus safety practices.
“They make it fun,” Muñoz said. “They’ve been trained to be silly, and then the kids get it and can go home and remind their parents about things like the right way to wear a mask.”
Muñoz said he can’t think of many silver linings to the pandemic, except that it has forced everyone to be creative.
“Even without COVID there are families who don’t have easy access to recreation centers,” he noted, adding he believes the program will be a hit.
“We’d love to continue this after COVID, with a whole fleet of vans,” he said. “It’s really about connecting with people.”