Parks Bureau personnel from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department hosted the first ever, “Stars on the North Pole” event for 140 local children at Athens Park on December 19, 2012. With the help of several Community Groups, children ranging in ages of 6 to 16 years of age, from across all local gang areas and ethnic backgrounds were in attendance in an effort to foster respect. The youth were purposefully separated from their friends and placed into groups where they participated in nine different activities.
The children painted and decorated tree ornaments, played games, designed their own Elf Hat’s, built Christmas Trees out of PVC pipe to hang their ornaments on, and wrote a letter to Santa Claus expressing thanks for someone special in their lives. They joined into a discussion about drug and alcohol awareness and were invited to learn some dance moves by Coolaid the Clown. Finally, the children each designed their own snowflake and received a lesson on how a snowflake is formed and is unique similar to the uniqueness of each human being.
This great event could not have been possible without the assistance and support of The Friends and Neighbors Community Club, Southern California Cease Fire, People for Community Improvement, Girls in Gangs, Rosewood Community Club, Coolaid the Clown and Explorers and personnel from Century and South Los Angeles Sheriff Stations.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Parks Bureau is dedicated to providing a safe and drug free environment at all Los Angeles County Parks.
