Activities Bus Connects Georgetown South with Boys & Girls Club

With donated sports equipment stacked high and a brigade of extra chairs handed out to overflow children and parents inside the Georgetown South Community Center, two young boys wormed their way toward a better view, looked up and stopped.

“That’s the Mayor,” one whispered to the other as Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II passed, stopped, and shook their hands.

The occasion was the launch of an activities bus that will transport children and youth from the Georgetown South Community Center to the Manassas Boys & Girls Club, Tuesday-Friday, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., starting January 31.

Vice Mayor Andy Harrover, Chief of Police Douglas W. Keen; Regional Director, Boys &Girls Club of Manassas Glenn Vickers and Hannah Senft, president of the Georgetown South Homeowners Association all gave brief remarks, geared to the young audience. 

“The Georgetown South Community is looking forward to participating in this pilot project to provide transportation for our young people to and from the Boys & Girls Club,” Senft said.  “We look forward to more children participating in the many programs offered there.”

Everybody filed out for an official ribbon cutting, thanks to neighboring Walgreens, which has supported the uninsured in Georgetown South by providing flu shots, and will cut the ribbon on their newest store location across from Georgetown South on Jan. 27.  So many children squeezed in, Mayor Parrish joked that this might be the first ribbon cutting where he was forced to snip off an ear at the same time.

Giveaways included pizza, refreshments and sports equipment.  Old Town Sports Pub donated soccer balls and footballs.  Soccer bags were funded by the Boys & Girls Club’s FitU physical fitness/education program.

The Activities Bus is the result of a community partnership between the City of Manassas, the Boys & Girls Club of Manassas, Manassas City Public Schools and the Georgetown South Community, and the celebration falls close to the anniversary of the 2011 Gang Prevention Summit, held at the Boys & Girls Club last January, as Chief Keen pointed out.

The Activities Bus is also a partial fulfillment of the City’s Resolution 2011-48, Identifying Neighborhood Revitalization and Safety as a City priority, which was proposed by Vice Mayor Andrew Harrover, and passed by the City Council in February 2011.  The resolution states that the City will initiate community engagement with leadership in City neighborhoods, develop a process for facilitating youth engagement through transportation to the Boys & Girls Club and youth-based activities, and create a model strategy for neighborhood revitalization. 

“This enhanced transportation community partnership further allows us to implement our 2012 formula for impact,” Vickers said.  “This includes an outcome driven club experience resulting in building academic success, engaged citizens and healthy life styles. It’s amazing how far we have come in a year.”

Neighborhood Services Manager Kisha Wilson-Sogunro praised the city’s AmeriCorps program.  “This is truly their win, as the activities bus would not have been possible without their hard work and persistence,” she said, explaining that over the next two weeks, AmeriCorps VISTA members will be canvassing the 12-street neighborhood to connect with parents and guardians, promote the activities bus and get youth and children signed up for Boys & Girls Club memberships and approval waivers to ride the bus. 

Sogunro said this will be a trial-run period of inviting the youth and their parents to take a ride on the bus and complete their paperwork.  The activities bus will start transporting children and youth from Georgetown South to the Boys & Girls Club on January 31.