Letter to the Editor

School event to have international flair

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

To the editor:

The Blytheville Intermediate School Boys and Girls Club of Mississippi County, Unit II is gearing up for its fifth annual Lights-On-Afterschool event to be held at the Blytheville Intermediate School's cafeteria on Friday, Oct. 28, from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. We are writing to solicit the support of our community through volunteers and attendees.

We have had some success in the event; however, we are seeking greater success this year. You can help with the success by helping us to locate international citizens within our community that would be willing to participate in this event by setting up a booth to display their cultures. In the past, the participants prepared food for sampling, wore their native dress, handed out literature about their country, performed dances, songs, music, displayed posters and artifacts and showed videos.

Lights-On-Afterschool is celebrated nationally every year. It is an effort by the Afterschool Alliance to unite the communities of this great nation and to provide a safe haven for our children after school. Each organization is allowed to select the event of its choice, set a theme and invite our public leaders. Our event is Lights-On-Afterschool: "Hands Around the World."

We can probably agree that there is no greater need than to be united in this country at this time. We applaud the efforts of the mayor and City Council for jump-starting and uniting the city by sponsoring the city cleanups. We want to do our part for the city by attempting to improve its quality and relationships among its melting pot of citizens from around the world. United, we can build a better Blytheville.

Please join us in this effort to bring our citizens together to learn all that Blytheville has to offer us as well as those seeking to relocate in this area. It is our responsibility to do all we can to make Blytheville the city that people love, take pride in, speak highly of and most of all a great place to live. A better Blytheville is what we are striving for in our club. Together we can do it.

If you are interested or have questions about this event, call 870-763-5924 for more information. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Geneva Aldridge Harris
Site coordinator