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Kids receive rec passes for good acts
By ALEXANDRA CALDWELL
| Article published on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 |
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| Photo by ALEXANDRA CALDWELL |
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| Talia Adams, 11, enjoys herself at the Good ACT annual recreation scholarship program awards lunch. She and 19 other students from Clearwater received free, year-long passes to all the recreation centers in the city for doing good deeds and getting good grades. |
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CLEARWATER – Precious Patterson, a “spunky” 10 year old, helped her entire family receive free, year-round passes to all the recreation centers in Clearwater because of her good character, grades and hard work in school.
Patterson, who attended North Ward Elementary this year, mostly looks forward to swimming. Her grandmother, Lula Brooks, has other goals in mind for herself.
“Well, we need it, girl,” Brooks told a reporter. “I just had a kidney transplant and I gained about 25 pounds, and I need to get up off me (sic) but I couldn’t afford it. So this pass will be good for me.”
Patterson was one of 20 students who kicked off their first day of summer vacation by receiving awards and year-round recreation passes as a reward for good behavior, grades and citizenship. There were 17 individual, year-round recreation passes and three students whose entire family received year-round passes. The students, most who could not otherwise afford the passes, received their awards at a special lunch June 3 at Ross Norton Recreation Center.
The Good ACT annual recreation scholarship program began modestly in 2003 when Clearwater Police Sgt. Ben McBride was a community policing sergeant in the North Greenwood area of the city. North Greenwood Recreation Complex had recently opened and McBride said he saw many kids who lived near the complex who were unable to afford the $2-a-day fee to use the facility. He worked with Police Chief Sid Klein and the parks and recreation department to distribute single day passes to the rec center to kids who did good deeds.
“Some of the first good acts were helping an officer on a foot chase – one of the kids actually stood by and watched officers’ cars while they were on a foot chase, making sure no one got in the cars,” McBride said. “One kid helped us recover a couple of stolen bicycles, one kid witnessed some kind of crime and spoke up.”
Soon, the public and the Rotary Club of Clearwater heard about the
program and helped provide enough funding so eventually the passes could be for an entire year.
McBride said it was important to him that underprivileged children had the opportunity to use the recreation facilities that were in their own back yards. He said he knows what it is like to grow up without much money. McBride said he grew up in a poor neighborhood in Largo where he was raised by his grandmother. She was on welfare and did not have money to pay for activities for him, he said. In junior high school, McBride saw a karate demonstration and desperately wanted to start classes, but he was worried about money. The instructor allowed McBride to clean the studio and its windows as payment for classes, and McBride has been involved in martial arts ever since. He sees the Good ACT program as a similar situation.
“From my standpoint, a lot of these kids are just one step away from going across that line and getting into trouble,” McBride said. “But if you can nip it in the bud right now, you don’t have to worry about them coming into the criminal justice system down the road and they can be positive role models.”
Deputy Police Chief Dewey Williams said a lot of the children who receive the awards come from environments or neighborhoods where there are many negative influences, so the rec passes are a way to reward the kids for following a more positive path and to help keep them out of trouble.
“We always do (the award ceremony) the day after school lets out – the first day of summer vacation – because one strategy in this is if kids have something to do in the summer, something healthy and productive to do, then they’re not on the street doing things that are not so healthy. So we hope they use these memberships and have a good summer.”
Linda Campbell of Clearwater said she is proud of her two sons – Kaliq, 12, and Kamal, 10, who attended Kings Highway Elementary this year – who both won individual rec passes.
“It gives kids an incentive to do the right thing, make their own choices and not be a follower,” Campbell said.
According to the awards ceremony, Kamal received his award for improving his behavior, learning how to handle confrontations and becoming a model student. Kaliq won his award for being a hard-working, self-motivated honor roll student who is honest and trustworthy, according to an announcement during the ceremony.
Talia Adams, 11, who attends Clearwater Intermediate, was another recipient of family recreation passes. Williams read that she is “an honor roll student who displays good character strengths such as respect, responsibility and honesty. She shows good citizenship by being active in the principal’s multicultural advisory committee and is highly respected by her classmates and teachers.”
Talia’s mother, Monica, said she is proud of Talia and feels a sense of accomplishment, as she is a single parent. Talia said she is most excited about swimming at the North Greenwood Recreation Complex. The program is important, she said, “So that (kids) could be active with their cards and so that kids can know that they are smart in something.”
Monica said it is hard for kids to stay on the right track because of lots of peer pressure, so programs like Good ACT are especially important. She said she is glad for the family pass because this way she can enjoy activities with Talia and her twin, Tyler and know what her children are doing with their free time.
Destiny Bowe, 9, of Sandy Lane Elementary won an individual rec pass for good grades and character.
“Destiny is a consistent example of excellent character,” Williams read during the ceremony. “She is respectful to her peers and adults, she shows patience and willingness to help others and honesty in all that she does. She has naturally gravitated toward a new student with limited English speaking skills to help the student with her assignments. Destiny, this is great and we are proud of you.”
Bowe said she, too, is the most excited about swimming at the rec centers this summer. Her mother, Laticia Jackson, said she is proud of her daughter for making the principal’s honor roll all year and that the pass will help give her a positive use of her time during the summer.
“(The program) keeps good kids like Destiny off the streets during the summer and gives them something to do to stay out of trouble,” Jackson said.
City Councilmembers Carlen Petersen, George Cretekos and John Doran all attended the ceremony and expressed their support for the program.
“I think any time you offer a child a healthy activity and keep them busy, keep them engaged and show them good things to do, it’s something that not only builds their skills in that particular area but also it fills a void that could be filled by things that are not healthy,” Petersen said.
Cretekos congratulated the students on all their hard work and reminded them to consider the Rotary Club’s motto, as the club helped make this program possible.
“That award that you are receiving is good for one year, but use it as a foundation and as a stepping stone to do good, to learn and to teach,” Cretekos said, “because remember, this club, this Rotary Club that is honoring you, has a motto that says service above self. And that means that each one of you needs to put someone else ahead of you and to help someone else out and to set that example that will allow you in the days and years to come.”
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Article published on Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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