Thirteen-year-old Gentilly resident Whitman Wilcox can’t stop talking about the sense of community he felt during his recent weeklong trip to Vero Beach Sports Village in Florida.
“I’ll remember the community and how we got to bond with each other,” he said. “The community was just awesome. No one really had any disagreements during the trip.”
Wilcox was among 40 New Orleans youths, ages 12-15, who participated in the Aug. 3-8 trip to the former Dodgertown, the longtime training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and at one time the New Orleans Saints.
The trip, organized by City Council President Arnie Fielkow, the New Orleans Public Library, Vero Beach Sports Village and Minor League Baseball, incorporated cultural aspects, like a ‘Breaking Barriers’ program with Jackie Robinson’s daughter Sharon; fitness awareness programs, like a baseball clinic with former Major League Baseball player Darrell Miller; as well as programs about how to become more involved in the community.
“It is unique programs like this trip to Vero Beach that offer our youth experiences, both educational and recreational, outside of their communities, thus broadening their horizons,” Fielkow said.
This year’s Florida trip was made possible by Fielkow’s other summer community endeavor. For the past two years, he has taken New Orleans youths to Birmingham, Ala., for a full day of baseball and civil rights education. This year, 150 youngsters went, but Fielkow also met with the president of Minor League Baseball, Pat O’Conner.
“I told him that it was my goal to try to give New Orleans youths opportunities during the summer, and he said that Minor League Baseball had just purchased the Vero Beach facility and that he would love for New Orleans to be the first city to participate in the camp,” he said.
In order to make that happen, Fielkow’s office had to organize and fund the trip in two months. Fielkow said his office was able to raise more than $30,000, thanks to private donations from Capital One, AT&T and others, as well as recruit a number of community sponsors including the New Orleans Public Library Board, which held an essay contest to choose the 40 participants. The essay topic was “Where Is the City of New Orleans in 2010?”
“This was put together in a 45- to 60-day period and everything I gathered from hearing the testimonials is that the children had an absolutely wonderful time,” Fielkow said.
Twelve-year-old Kobe Dumas of Algiers was a camper, and he said his favorite part was hearing from Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s daughter, about the importance of education and overcoming barriers.
“She (Sharon) talked about how hard it was for them and how her dad was a role model to her. It really inspired me to be like Jackie Robinson and to be a good person,” Dumas said.
“It was a great experience for everybody. Toward the beginning of it, it was a long 13-hour bus ride to Florida, even though I had my brother with me. He was the only one that I could talk to, but after I spent a week with the other kids, I started making friends. It was fun on the way back because it didn’t feel like 13 hours.”
Jazmyn Scott, 15, from eastern New Orleans, is a sports lover, especially when it comes to volleyball and basketball.
“I did a lot of swimming, played basketball, volleyball and softball, and they had some motivational speakers,” she said. “I went to the beach for the first time without my mom.”
But she admitted the trip was more than just sports. After listening to the speakers, she has a new school-year goal.
“This trip made me want to work harder. I’m trying to get straight A’s this year,” she said. “It was fun meeting new people. I got to interact and know people that I don’t normally talk to.”
Scott’s and Dumas’ experiences highlight exactly what Fielkow hopes children gain from the trip and recreational opportunities as a whole.
“New Orleans youth often rarely get an opportunity to leave the boundaries of the city,” he said.
“This was an opportunity where 40 youth were able to leave New Orleans and experience a different culture. I believe these are the kinds of things that they will remember their entire life. I did something like this when I was a kid, and I still remember it 50 years later.”
Fielkow said his office is hoping to bring both the Birmingham and Vero Beach trips back next year.
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Joe Halm is a contributor to The Times-Picayune.
