Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) held its annual Harvest Fest at the center, located in the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood, on Oct. 28. The event featured raffles, vaccine and voting information, and various activities and stands.

 

Margaret Della, chief executive director of KHCC, said the Harvest Fest used to be held indoors, but last year they moved it outside as a COVID-19 safety precaution. “This was, like, the first event that we had where we were bringing people back together again, and it was so fun,” she said.

Activities on the day included temporary tattoos, a Wii station, a photo booth station, mask-making, pumpkin-painting, information about the center’s garden, cookie-decorating, T-shirt painting, games, snacks, and a haunted house run by the center’s youth leadership council.

 

Della said the festival was mostly planned and run by different departments within KHCC, which is based at 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace #5900 in the Bronx. “It’s definitely a collaboration, she said. “It takes multiple months for people to pull it together. It’s just fun to see everyone roll up their sleeves together and come out, hang out, and then it’s even better to see all the kids having fun; something joyful!”

 

KHCC also partnered with New York City Artist Corps, a City-funded and City-run program which supports New York City-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. According to Della, the center partnered with the Artist Corps for previous programs, but this is the first time they hosted them at the Harvest Fest.

 

“There’s a couple of artists around that are doing different table exercises for people to just engage, and it’s all funded through the City Artists Corps,” she said.

 

Gerry Sherman, garden program coordinator for KHCC, was kept busy manning the pumpkin-decorating station on the day, and said it proved a popular stand, with lots of kids coming by looking for a pumpkin. “It’s going well,” she said. “Hopefully I don’t run out of pumpkins. I refer to last year’s harvest fest as pumpkingate 2020!”

 

Individually packaged snacks and candy, donated by KHCC staff and community members, were handed out to kids and families throughout the afternoon, some of whom were dressed in Halloween costumes. As she distributed the snacks to the kids, Allison Lauro, a social work intern, was asked how the day was going. “It seems like it’s really good,” she said. “A lot of our snacks got eaten very quickly so that’s a good sign, and there’s a lot of little kids who I usually don’t see.”

 

Noris DeJesus-Petrone, director of the changing futures program, a KHCC program that assists survivors of trauma, including domestic abuse and sexual abuse, organized a stand for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. There, she also handed out bracelets, notebooks, masks, and information about the program.

 

KHCC offers a variety of programs for Bronx residents of all ages. The center provides resources and programming designed to help community members lead independent lives. For more information, visit khcc-nyc.org.