Director’s Letter – Winter/Spring 2024

Airway Heights Parks & Recreation – Where Community Grows

The holiday hustle and bustle will soon be behind us, and we look forward to a new year filled with health, personal achievements, and more great memories. This new season also brings the common feeling of loneliness and a sense of lethargy. This isolation takes a toll on our mental health and overall wellbeing. In the months ahead we must be ready to combat the winter doldrums that can set in, by making sure we are staying active and social. Due to fewer traditional gathering places, many communities struggle to provide a place for the face-to-face opportunities that help build our social networks, and pursue healthier lives. Here in Airway Heights, we are fortunate to have the Recreation Center, filled with amazing staff and community members brought together by a common theme of community and health.

Think back to July and our Parks & Rec Month theme “Where Community Grows”. Those words hold true not just for a month out of the year, but for the countless hours staff put in year after year to create programs, classes, and activities for our community. Parks & Recreation staff, programs, and facilities are powerful allies in enhancing your wellbeing, offering a unique blend of physical fitness and social support that can alleviate loneliness and strengthen community bonds. This is the essential work that ensures everyone can enjoy the lifesaving and life-changing benefits of physical fitness, social interaction and togetherness offered by Parks and Recreation. Our Recreation Center creates a stronger community by promoting regular social interaction, and supporting happier, more connected lives. Providing the spaces where people pursue their physical fitness goals and find the social support necessary for mental health and wellbeing.

We work to unite our community members with four major initiators of social connection: Shared Goals, Accountability, Supportive Community, and Regular Interactions.

I couldn’t be more proud of the work we accomplished in 2023 with the support of our members and partners. From advancing environmental resilience to supporting youth, together we are growing our community, and the work we’ve done together ensures that  Airway Heights Parks & Recreation is the place Where Community Grows.

Thank you and Happy New Year,

 

J.C. Kennedy

Parks & Recreation Director