Oceanside CA— On Friday 13, 2015 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. members of several departments within the City of Oceanside as well as a number of community groups will meet at Libby Lake Community Park in Oceanside for the second annual Celebration of Life event. The Celebration of Life is an event the City of Oceanside’s Neighborhood Services Dept., Oceanside Police Dept., Vista Community Clinic’s Project REACH Youth Development Program and various additional other organizations and colleges partner together to support. All of these groups support the Libby Lake Community in remembering the Victims of Violence while celebrating the lives of the youth and families that have survived the violence and continue to live in the Libby Lake Community.
The event has its origins in the double homicide at the park two years ago. Knowing that anniversaries of such events are sometimes memorialized by gang members and used as an excuse to abuse alcohol and drugs, city employees and members of the community banded together to host a proactive and positive event to celebrate the lives of all – past, present, and future.
There will be many vendors, activities and informational groups at the event. Music will be provided by “World Tuned Radio”, hot dogs, hamburgers, snow cones and popcorn will be provided. There will be face painting, balloon animals, a “bounce house”, raffles, and a demonstration by the K-9 Unit of the Oceanside Police Department. Also present will be the Oceanside Fire Department, The Oceanside Public Library’s “Adelante” bookmobile, and Neighborhood Services.
Vendors will include The Job Corps (providing scholarship information), Interfaith Community Services (social service assistance), the Trauma Intervention Program (family support services), the Vista Community Clinic (teen services), Mira Costa College (general information), North Coast Public Health Center (blood pressure screenings and nutrition information), the San Diego Futures Foundation (low-cost computer access programs), the City of Oceanside (environmental programs, free children’s’ books), S.O.S (Save Our Streets), North County Health Services, AmeriCorps NCCC, Las Valientes (legal services), and others.
The public is invited to the event and asked to participate in supporting the Libby Lake community.