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Winton Community Pride Day

 

I have lived in Winton for many years and as a community member it always bothered me that the MAC (the local advisory body and representative to the County) seemed to be very inward focused. So, when I became an AmeriCorps worker I decided that I wanted to be part of the MAC and see how we can work together to see change happen in the community.

Last year Winton LifeLine Community Center sponsored a Fall Festival. I (Ernie) coordinated the event, we had Gateway Community Church from Merced provide games for the children, a young Christian artist from Merced provide music, and numerous service organizations came out for a wonderful event that drew the whole community together. 

We were asked if we would have another fall event and having gone through various training from ABCD and AmeriCorps I realized that we should not be in charge of it again, so I referred it to the MAC to see if they want to sponsor the event this year.

 


Well it worked. We partnered with the Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) for the first Winton Community Pride Day.  Several of the board members jumped at the idea, one board member offered his community hall free of charge, one person took care of delegating various jobs to the members of the board and I ended up only with one task: to get community organizations involved.

I asked one of the local churches to provide games and craft projects for the children, a business provided the food, LifeLine gave out winter coats and through a grant was able to provide Food Vouchers to the local grocery store. Community organizations came out to show their services. Businesses provided door prizes. 

Over 250 people showed up that day and enjoyed getting to know their community better, ate pizza and realized that they do care about the community!

Ernie Solis

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