BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Community members throughout the Raleigh County area were invited to Beckwoods Apartments on Friday where the Raleigh County Family Support Center, Beckley Housing Authority, and several other local organizations teamed with the Beckley Police Department and Beckley Fire Department for the Beckwoods BBQ community event.
Held at the Beckwoods Apartment location, the community-based event featured an array of activities for attendees including games, face painting, food and drinks, and even a dunk tank.
The event comes as the most recent in a series of similar events geared toward the local community, as Beckley Housing Authority Executive Director Donna Whitt told LOOTPRESS on Friday.
“What we have been doing is trying to go to each one of our public housing properties and do events with the children and the families to actually meet them where they are, and try to develop a better rapport,” Whitt said. “We’ve just wanted to feed the kids and let them have fun, and it’s just grown into a huge event. This is, I think about our fourth or fifth event. We have some more coming up, so we’re just going to keep on going with it.”
Along with local law enforcement and emergency services, as well as various community organizations, the event saw an appearance from City of Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold who got in on the fun, even pitching a fastball to dunk Beckley Police Department Sergeant David Bailey.
“Today is just a fun community event put on by a lot of great people,” said Bailey. “It’s just a great way that people can give back to the community and to these kids out here.”
Sergeant Bailey, who also facilitates community services with the department, emphasizes the work of groups like the Raleigh County Family Support Center and Beckley Housing Authority for their respective roles in making events like Friday’s community BBQ a reality.
“It’s all about giving back out to the community; getting involved with the community. So once the [community services] position got created I met a lot of great people that already had this stuff going. So, I’ve been fortunate enough to tag along with these great people who’ve got all this stuff going, which helps the Police Department as well.”
The event also saw participation from Beckley ARH, Raleigh County Prevention Coalition, Community Connections, St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, WV Collegiate Recovery, and Seed Sowers.
Learn more about upcoming events and services available through the Raleigh County Support Center here, and learn more about the work of the Beckley Police Department here.