The City
of Fall River and SSTAR, an
addiction treatment and health care center, recently launched a program
called Project Assist
under the Community
Resilience and Recovery Initiative (CRRI).
The program, funded by a $5.6 million, four-year
grant from SAMSHA, the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, provides counseling
and treatment services for residents affected by the bad economy. One
aspect of the project is to provide positive experiences, especially for
those who are affected by poverty or unemployment, so a series of three
Neighborhood Fun Days were planned during the summer of 2011. The first
one was held on June 28th at Lafayette Park and featured free food, fun
games and activities for children, and access to community resources
tables. Click here
for a 
video of the event. Click
here for photos of a job club meeting. For more information,
contact Paula Beaulieu at
508-837-6957.
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(Top row) Fun
Day participants stop at the Soda-free Summer Pledge table to sign up and
to get a refreshing cup of cold water, including Alexis Sharples, Stacia
Honeyman and Curtis Davis, right. (Second row, left) Former NBA Basketball
star Chris Herren autographs a copy of Hoop Dreams for Maria Costa and
Beatrice Rogers. (Second row, center) Nine-year-old Dakota Goodman gets
ready to try climbing a rock wall. (Second row, right) Carolyn Mello and
Sierra Souza are thrilled to get stickers from Lisa Alves of the WIC
Program. (Third row, left) Eleven-year-old Samanth Haskins, center, dances
during one of the contests. (Third row, center) Samantha Mathias holds a
ball she won in a dance contest. (Third row, right) Michelle Blanco has
body art applied by Wendy Garf-Lipp of United Neighbors of Fall River.
(Bottom row) People line up for food served by CD-REC program director
Jamison Souza, CRRI Project Director Paula Beaulieu, CD-REC executive
director Grace Gerling and Fall River youth coordinator Christian
McCloskey.
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