Festival provides food for needy

ALBANY — The East Towne Civic League held a youth festival Thursday at Shackleford Park in Albany. Members of the Albany Fire Department, the Albany Police Department’s Gang Unit, the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office and the Dougherty County Health Department participated in the event.

“We wanted to bring the community together,” said Johnnie P. Hammond of the East Towne Civic League. “We are giving out food. It may not be a complete meal, but it’s something to go toward several meals. It’s just a little something to help people out. We have been organized since 1986 and we do this often. We give out emergency food and believe that we are just part of the neighborhood coming together.”

Children were able to play, eat hamburgers and hot dogs, listen to a DJ and visit with various members of the different city and county agencies.

The Albany Fire Department had Engine 7 from the Mock Road Station parked and available for children to climb in and observe up-close.

The Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office had a table set up where children could get their fingerprints taken. The fingerprint card was presented to the parents with the child’s name on it in case of any future emergencies.

“We are doing fingerprints for the kids,” said DSO Deputy Carl Boyett. “We’ve also got coloring books and pads with all the important (emergency) numbers on it.”

The Albany Police Department Gang Unit handed out junior officer stickers, talked about community awareness and had officers available to answer questions from parents and children.

The Dougherty County Health Department was on site to inform citizens about heat stroke awareness and the potential dangers of the Zika Virus, a disease that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.

The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes), DCHD officials said. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito. People usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika. Many people might not realize they have been infected, health department officials said.

“We’ve got all these different agencies out here. We’ve got hot dogs, hamburgers and music; we’ve got everything,” said Jean Colie, a member of the East Towne Civic League. “We wanted to do this for the community, for the kids and the adults. We just want everybody to have a good time. It’s a community effort sponsored by East Towne Civic League. We try to do these things several times a year and let the community know we care about them.”