After weeks of preparation and hard work to put together an event that was intended to not only give area residents something fun to do but to raise funding as well, Full Circle Community Organization was disappointed with the turnout at the Wet Wild Water War. However, as group founder Cherish Pryor assured following the event, she’s not going to let that minor stumbling block stop her in her mission of bringing new youth programs to the community.
The Wet Wild Water War took place on Saturday, June 12 at Petrack Park with a full 12 hours of activities planned, but the group got a bit of a late start and the attendance was not as strong as everyone had hoped it would be.
There were a few dozen event-goers out at the park during the family portion of the event but the adult segment, which was set to take place during the evening hours and into the night, didn’t draw very many people. Despite this, those that did head over to the park appeared to be enjoying themselves Saturday afternoon when the Pahrump Valley Times stopped by to check things out, with youngsters armed with squirt guns and water cannons running around, screaming with laughter and soaking themselves and one another with much delight and vigor, while their families watched with indulgent smiles.
“The event had a small turnout, probably due to the high heat, everyone being late and the park’s staff not knowing where the water sources were,” Pryor told the Pahrump Valley Times. “We took a huge profit loss but we are determined to keep going!”
Pryor recently founded Full Circle with the intention of creating an organization that will focus on providing area youth with positive, constructive programs and activities. She has a whole host of ideas that she would like to put into action but she cannot do it alone and she is calling on the community to lend a hand in getting Full Circle off the ground and up and running.
“As of now, Full Circle is funded solely by me and small fundraisers. We really need people to believe in this mission to help our youth to have better ways to spend their time and to teach them things in life to help them become successful adults,” Pryor said. “We are looking for a new board secretary, and we really need an experienced grant writer who will either donate their time or contract with us to write grants. We need grants to make this program successful.”
In addition to those two key positions, Pryor said she is also looking for general volunteers to help with other future events and she is hopeful that local businesses and organization will take an interest in Full Circle and get involved as well.
“We would love to get these programs up and running before school starts. We need local businesses that would be willing to allow a teen to shadow them so they can show the teens the ins and outs of running their own business. This would be part of our Youth Entrepreneurs program,” Pryor said. “We also need men and women who are willing to be mentors for youth who may be living in broken homes and need a positive male or female role model. We’d like to bring in young people who are willing to do labor for their elders in the community too, to teach them to be a part of their community. And our local law enforcement and fire crews, we’d love to get them involved so they can show the kids out here that cops are here to help, not hurt or scare them. We want to bring our community together as a ‘Full Circle’.”
With the Wet Wild Water War behind her, Pryor is now setting her sights on the group’s next community event, which will be held in October in celebration of the Halloween holiday. “We plan to involve zombies and lots of activities but we need lots of volunteers and people to reach out and make these events and programs possible,” Pryor said.
Anyone willing to lend a hand to Full Circle in its mission to establish local youth programs and community events is encouraged to reach out to Pryor at 775-910-1625 or by emailing fullcirclecommunityorg@gmail.com
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com