The Greater Fall River Re-Creation Summer Meals Program Kick-off event took place on July 5, 2022, at Pleasant View. Grace Girling, Executive Director of Greater Fall River Recreation, announced that the program would run until August 26th, offering free meals to children 18 years and younger at nine sites, including seven parks and two housing developments. Ships Cove was introduced as a new site this year, and meals would be served from 11 AM to 3 PM, accompanied by activities like arts and crafts and games. A significant change from previous years is the return to pre-COVID rules, requiring participants to stay on-site to eat their meals, rather than grab-and-go. Mayor Coogan, Housing Director Kevin Spadella, and Program Service Coordinator Joseph Sullivan of the Fall River Housing Authority also spoke, highlighting the program's importance for children's health, nutrition, and socialization during the summer. Mr. Sullivan further detailed other community initiatives, including outdoor movie nights at various housing developments throughout July and August, featuring films like "Adam's Family 2" and "Encanto." He also announced two annual community resource fairs on August 12th at Father Deferio and August 19th at Sunset Hill, which will involve local agencies, the fire department, police department, and the Bristol County Sheriff. The program receives vital funding and support from Mayor Coogan, the City of Fall River, the Fall River Housing Authority, the USDA, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Council
City Officials
Public / Other
good afternoon everybody my name is grace girling i'm the executive director of greater fall river recreation our agency is kicking off the summer lunch program here at pleasant view and we're extremely happy to be providing the program once again uh it will run until august 26th we have nine sites that we will be open from 11 to three we have seven parks and three and two housing developments and as well as um
0:37ships cove is a new a new site this year the parks are griffin park ruggles park kennedy park lafayette pulaski maplewood father travassos i always get stuck with that one and then griffin park uh we we're here at pleasant view from 11 to 3 as well as sunset hill we also provide meals at benny costa father diaferio and heritage heights between 11 45 and 1 45.
1:14we welcome all kids to come out 18 years and younger to receive a free meal as well as do activities at our local parks and here at pleasant view and sunset hill we have plenty of arts and crafts games athletic equipment you know a little bit of something for every child to come out and enjoy the outdoors we don't want to be cooped up in the house all summer long come on out and enjoy
1:41um the summer lunch program um many thanks to mayor coogan and the city of fall river for their support and assistance uh the fall river housing authority the usda and department of elementary and secondary education without the funding the program would not be uh in existence so again if anyone has any questions about the program some of the rules have changed a bit uh no more grab-and-go
2:12folks have to stay on site to eat the meals fortunately um with without without the covered restrictions they um we're going back to our old ways staying on site eating our meal and enjoying an afternoon of some fun activities um at this point at this time i'd like to introduce our mayor mayor coogan to say a few words
2:45this is a program that's been in existence right along as as grace explained it was grab and go for a while but now we're back to the traditional lunches in all of the different sites across the city this is a great opportunity to keep our kids healthy well fed over the summer along with the activities that go on with the housing authority under the direction of kevin spideler and his crew joey de silva and
3:06a few others very very pleased this program is up and running i'm very very pleased there's activity for our kids and these are the things we need to keep going during the summer so that the kids both don't lose learning and also socialize we need kids outside in the fresh air socializing with each other i think that that's how the schools will get back to normal much quicker and i appreciate everyone for
3:28coming out today it's a great group of kids we got here today and i'm sure they're going to work all summer to make make things run smoothly as possible but i'm turning it over to uh our new housing director a good friend of mine who's already doing a great job at housing i want to introduce kevin spadella thank you mayor on behalf of the far river housing authority and its border commissioners
3:55i'm happy to participate in the lunch program with grace and far river recreation in the city joe de silva as everyone knows does a great job with coordinating not only this event but many other events and we're we're happy to participate and collaborate with them for our residents to get a good meal and as was said earlier to participate in some sports activities or other arts and
4:23crafts activities i remember doing that as a kid and i think it's a it's a great thing for our youth thank you
4:39i'd like to introduce joey de silva he's going to say a few words okay welcome my name is joseph sullivan the program service coordinator for the foreign housing authority uh as uh kevin was saying uh it's a partnership with the greater florida recreation for over 25 years we do many events with recreation the lunch program here we have our senior concerts that we do at the elderly high rises we also have a
5:03new thing that we started last year with the movies outdoor movies at five of our housing developments uh it's a coordination with the mayor's office created for recreation we have our first movie night this coming monday at heritage heights five o'clock it's going to be adam's family two next uh monday the 18th at father deferio we're going to have sync 2.
5:24july 25th sunset hill space jams 2.
5:28august 8th is at maple gardens we got in kanto and then august 22nd here back here at pleasant view for sonic 2.
5:37we also have our two uh annual community resource fairs that we have a bunch of agencies from all over new england here uh in our greater fall river area we have the fire department the police department everybody the bristol county sheriff they'll be doing canine demonstrations with the florida police department uh the kids love that they're going to be august 12th that father deferio from 10 to 2 and august 19th at
6:02father excuse me at sunset hill but it's all over facebook uh there's flyers around if any of the media needs uh copies i can get it to you thank you again i'd just like to thank everyone for attending today and let's just have a fun safe summer and if folks have any questions about any type of programming along with the summer lunch program they can check out our website www.gfr
6:35or contact our office at 508-67-909-2222 thank you