Children at the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club coloring in lightbulbs to celebrate Lights on Afterschool (Photo by Peter Currier)
WESTFIELD- The 19th annual ‘Lights On Afterschool’ event was held at the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club Thursday afternoon.
The event, which is sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance, featured Boys and Girls Club staff and members, as well as Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan, as speakers before a group of 300 school children.
“Lights on Afterschool is a nationwide celebration of after school programs,” says Trent Oliver, a member of the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club for 10 years.
There were more than 8,000 Lights on Afterschool events held on Thursday across the country. Although the event in Westfield highlighted the Boys and Girls Club, other events in the U.S. were held in local libraries, youth centers, and learning centers.
Trent Oliver, a member of the Boys and Girls Club for 10 years (Photo by Peter Currier)
“We call it Lights on Afterschool because the alternative is that the lights are off,” says Mayor Sullivan to the group of children.
“The Afterschool Alliance organizes Lights On Afterschool to focus attention on the urgent need to invest in afterschool programs, which provide homework help, mentoring, STEM activities, sports and fitness, healthy snacks and meals, art and dance, job- and college-readiness, and opportunities for hands-on, team-based learning,” says a statement from the Afterschool Alliance.
Following remarks by Mayor Sullivan, the children went back to their normal after school activities, the very same activities that the Afterschool Alliance are highlighting with the event.
“We want to put the word out there that there are safe after school places that kids can go to,” says Ashley Miehm, the program and teen director of the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club.
