Recreation Division Activity Report – April 2012
Athletics
Spring Indoor Futsal also wrapped its regular season with the Staunton Strikers taking first place. The Staunton Recreation Department has four girls teams participating in the Blue Ridge Softball league, and 26 men’s teams participating in the Spring Adult Softball league. With over 600 participants in leagues now that number is sure to grow with co-ed softball and outdoor soccer starting in May
Child Care
Camp Staunton (aka Summer Playground) registrations are steadily flowing into the dept. The Garden Center site and Montgomery Hall Park site are ahead of schedule while the Gypsy Hill Gym is slightly behind registration numbers at this time last year. There was no turnover of summer camp staff from last year, although we did hire a few new “subs”. Staff stability and continuity is a real positive as it enhances the ability to develop lasting relationships with both children and parents. Before we ever get going with camp, the trust and rapport has already been established between parents, children and returning staff. This makes for a smooth transition from school to camp.
The HEART program revenue is exceeding the projections set at the beginning of the year. We are currently within our budget expenditures for the program. New 2012-13 HEART morning and afterschool registrations begin on June 1st. Also, this program has had no staff turnover.
Community Centers
April was an exciting month at the Booker T. Washington Community Center. The Facility Coordinator visited several schools, including Stuarts Draft Middle, Shelburne, and Stewart Middle, to promote the All Girl Conference by speaking and/or distributing flyers. She also appeared on Q101′s “The Halls” to share detailed information about the Conference Schedule.
On April 21st, the 5th Annual All Girl Conference was held at the BTW Community Center. About 70 teenaged girls representing 9 area middle and high school students attended. With over 150 people in attendance, this year’s Conference was the biggest yet! The SADD Club from Stuarts Draft High School developed a video PSA and spoke with the participants about how their choice of words can hurt others. Students from Mary Baldwin College presented a multi-cultural fashion show, and over 20 local organizations and businesses set up informational booths. Participants choose 3 workshops from the 12 offered. Breakfast and lunch was served, and door prizes and souvenir Conference T-shirts were given away at the end. The purpose of the Your Community Cares: All Girl Conference is to nurture the positive development of teenaged girls. Some Conference goals include connecting girls with local resources, providing positive female role models from the community, and providing a networking opportunity for girls and adults!
Also during the month of April, Boys & Girls Club Celebrated their Boys & Girls Club week by hosting several activities at the Center for parents, including an outside cook-out and fun day!
The Gypsy Hill Gym had 173 kids participate in after school open gym, 61 in adult open gym volleyball, 26 ladies for women’s basketball, 80 for Shenandoah club volleyball, 59 for Jolene’s morning warm up, 67 for the American Red Cross blood drive and 75 graduates for American Freestyle Karate school with 400 spectators.
Community Recreation Programs
LOL Yoga had 3 participants, Beginners Pottery had 11 participants, Yoga has18 participants , Zumba has 9 participants, Morning Warm Ups with Jolene has 10 participants. The Community Recreation Specialist is serving as the secretary of SAW Recruitment and Recognition. She is also serving as secretary for the Kids Matter Day Committee. The Community Recreation Specialist helped organize and attended SAW Coalition 5 year Celebration.
Grants
The Staunton Parks and Recreation Department is collaborating with the Boys and Girls Club as well as Staunton City Schools in an attempt to procure an afterschool program for the middle- schoolers for the 2012-13 school year. The Grant was signed, sealed and delivered in April 2012. We will know our fate in August. If we received the Grant, The Staunton Parks and Recreation Department will provide the Nelson Street facility space for this middle school afterschool program. The department also agreed to provide transportation using the summer camp buses for the programs field trips.
Marketing
Brochure – The Department brochure was received by residents of Staunton via direct mail in early April. Positive comments and a general pleasure with the department’s main marketing piece was overwhelming. Course registrations are on schedule. The next brochure will feature the entire history of Montgomery Hall beginning in 1820.
The Method to our Madness Blog experienced it’s single greatest read month ever with 1685 reads that included 29 different countries (really!). It was also a record for the most reads in a day with 537 reads on April 1st, 2012. The most read blog with over 1000 reads for the month was “Missing Russian World War II Submarine Surfaces in Lake Tams- Authorities Baffled”. If you would like to read this blog you can simply Google key words like Lake Tam, Russian Sub or The Method to our Madness. Interestingly, the Russian Federation was one of the countries that had read the blog post.
Facebook friends – We also had a massive month on Facebook. Our viral reach on the first week of April was over 5000. This included the submarine post as well as information about the egg hunt and new Grand Egg Hunt photo albums. We have over 1980 friends now.
Park Kiosk/Signs – New signs are going up in 4 parks. The first of which is now in Gypsy Hill Park at the main entrance. An enlarged park map with all the amenities is displayed on one side, with the park history on the other. The next park sign will be Montgomery Hall’s which should be erected in about a week. We are working on the entire history at present with the Peyton, Lewis, Catlett historian.
Special Events
Eggstravaganza – The annual Eggstravaganza was massive. We had over 600 children turn out for the grand egg hunts on April 7th. Besides the hunts, the event also included; face painting, jugglers, flower pot painting and planting, old-fashioned egg coloring, the moon bounce free refreshments and over $2000 in candy and prizes. The event was well attended and received by our community.
“Read in the Park” in collaboration with seniors from Stuart Hall was very successful and close to 300 books were given out to children.
All Girls Conference – see description in community center section.
Aqua-Fina Pitch Hit and Run – The Pitch Hit and Run event was held on Wednesday, April 25th at Jerry May Field in Staunton. This year we added a girls’ softball division. The winners in each age group and gender group advance to Salem, Va. for the Sectional Competition.
Playground Safety Week – In honor of Playground Safety Week, the 2 superintendent from the department prepared a video for the City’s main website. Both superintendents are Certified Playground Safety Inspectors (CPSI). The title of the 20 minute video was “The Dirty Dozen: Playground Hazards”. This video can be viewed on the blog as well as the safety committee’s section of the City website.
This Staunton “Parks and Recreation Blog” was posted by Jennifer Jones, Superintendent of Recreation
To find us quickly on Google, try typing any of these relative expressions into your search engine; parks and recreation + “parks and recreation blog” [:parksandrecreation/.*] [:staunton/.*]
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