The Parque Padrinos, led by Teresa Bendito-Zepeda, a 2019 Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition Forward Awardee, was looking forward to celebrating the grand reopening of Kiwanis Methow Park, a WWRP Local Parks grantee, on May 10th but as the coronavirus outbreak unfolded into a pandemic they postponed their plans for celebration. The Trust for Public Land shares how this community group in South Wenatchee turned their attention to helping their families and neighbors through the coronavirus crisis.
Excerpt:
“Bendito lists some of the reasons why her neighbors in South Wenatchee, a community of about 5,000 that is predominately Latino and low-income, are particularly vulnerable to the virus: many live in dense, multi-generational or multi-family homes. Most families here make a living in agricultural work and other frontline jobs, so they can’t work from home. And in a county with lower rates of literacy than the state average, it’s harder for people to access the latest critical information about how to protect themselves from the virus.”
“That’s why we’re doing outreach,” Bendito says. To reach neighbors who don’t read or write, the Parque Padrinos made a series of videos that they shared on WhatsApp and Facebook. In one, Padrinos hike on a local trail, spaced six feet apart. In another, a member washes her hands while singing “Si Una Vez,” a popular song by the late, great Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.
Read the full blog post here