Courtney Luciana Photo
Ward 30 Harvest Festival vendors.
A hundred West Hills residents gathered Saturday to participate in a Ward 30 Harvest Festival on at West Rock Stream Academy.
The event was launched by West Hills officials and the board of “333 Valley Street: an Intergenerational Organization, Inc.” to raise money towards reviving an after-school program held in the building widely known in the area as “The Shack,” a community service center up the street that that was last open decades ago.
West Hills Alder Honda Smith and the interim executive director of the 333 Valley Street center, Carolyn Kinder, said they plan for it to serve the entire community, with a special focus on the youth. With homicides and violent crimes upticking this year, residents requested for “The Shack” to return and provide structure for kids.
Smith said with dozens of vendors paying booth fees, donations, and sponsors, approximately $6,000 was raised on Saturday.
Saturday’s event featured fried fish baskets, live bands, and folks hanging out together on the lawn.
Zshonna and Andrea Daniels-Singleton.
Zshonna Singleton, 15, was out exploring the vendors during Saturday’s event. She became a youth ambassador for Ward 30 this past summer while working with the West Hills summer youth camp and has been recruiting other kids to help out with chores and garden work in order to slowly but surely revive the 333 Valley Street community center.
“Coming out here this past summer showed me that if we all come together, then we could actually do something good in the community,” Singleton said. “This could have us all out together, we can have fun, and I can make new friends.”
Zshonna said that because of the violence wave, she has felt like it’s unsafe to go outside. She recalled hearing rounds of gunfire about a month ago down the street from her family’s house. Her ultimate goal is to stop that feeling of fear for herself and her peers.
“We need to stop the violence. I think us being here could stop all of that,” Zshonna. “You can’t just walk outside. You don’t know if you’re going to get shot or not. That’s how bad it is right now. We’re just kids. When we see all of this violence around our community, we ask ourselves if we’re going to make it out safe.”
Zshonna’s mother, Andrea Daniels-Singleton, said her daughter’s experience so far has made her aware of how many kids don’t even know one another in the same neighborhood. She said that she wants there to be a stronger bond of unity in the community.
“We’re taking back our community, our children, and going back to the old cliche that it takes a village to raise children,” she said.
The 333 Valley community building recently received internet access through Comcast and is officially listed as a “lift zone,” designed to help get online people who lack internet access.
“It’s been my dream and vision as an alder to find out from the community what is it that the residents wanted. And everyone had the same request: ‘Bring the Shack back.’ Hearing that gave me more of a drive to do this for the people,” Smith said. “And then just seeing the kids not having anything to do and needing that structure.”
“This will be a safe haven for children and families,” Kinder said. “We will provide internet services, games and activities, and a safe place to hang out.”
The backyard of “The Shack”
The plan is for the Shack to offer programs on pathways to careers (homework assistance and tutorials) and anti-bullying. Other features include a kitchen stocked with donated food items, washer and dryers for the less fortunate, a library, a gameroom, and a recording studio where kids will be able to cut their own albums.
“There’s no limits on the kids,” Smith said. “We’re looking for people to donate and for sponsors so that we can make it so that no child has to pay to get in. We’re doing everything that we can to make sure that no child is left out to get the services in which they need.”
Many people at the event held a personal connection to the 333 Valley St. community center.
Vendor Nichole Dill, owner of “Nikki Lee Style,” was one of them. She launched the business in honor of her son, Robert Faulk-Dill, who was shot from behind and killed outside of his grandmother’s house on Maple Street in 2018. It had always been his dream to have his own custom business.
“I fulfilled it for him,” Dill said. “This is a beautiful event, and I think reopening the center will provide a safe place for the community.”
Nichole’s family, Maya and Terrance Dill (Robert’s uncle), brought their three children out to enjoy the event. Maya said that it felt good to be able to bring their kids somewhere wholesome in the neighborhood.
“It’s good to be a part of the innocence and no violence,” Maya said. “Sometimes, I am scared to go out and to bring my family outside. These are innocent kids that are being killed. Some of them are as young as 12 years old. Terrible.”
“We experienced gun violence firsthand. I do think that reopening this center is a good idea,” Terrance added. “I think it’s going to help eliminate some of the violence going on. It’s really encouraging to see events like this and I do believe having more like this one will also help to decrease the violence. This is what we need to really make a change.”
Blue Magic performs “Three Ring Circus.”
The West Hills community wrapped up the event by enjoying the music of a popular, old-school R&B and soul group known as Blue Magic. The crowd roared as they played their hit, “Three Ring Circus.”
Residents sang their hearts out along with the band: “Life is a three ring circus, all the ups and downs of a carousel, that I know so well.”
Thank you to all the people who are volunteering and donating to "The Shack" community center. It is organizations like these that build stronger communities and create an antidote to violence and an alternative to the streets for young people for role models and fun things to do and safe places to go and hang out.
May this community center thrive and become a source for all things good in the neighborhood.