A little magic happens when people come together for a good cause. Join RUG and the Honduran Navy on Roatán as we head to the island’s East End to celebrate Children’s Day—bringing cakes, piñatas, laughter and a whole lot of Rotary spirit to the children of Punta Gorda and Pandy Town.
RUG was on a very special mission this Thursday, September 10!
Together with the Honduran Navy, we helped organize the annual Día del Niño y la Niña — Children’s Day celebration at two communities on the east side of Roatán.
The preparations started long before we arrived. Angela spent much of the previous afternoon and evening baking and decorating nine giant cakes. With the cakes loaded, along with gallons of juice, piñatas and a mountain of goodies, we deployed to our first destination: Punta Gorda, the heart of Roatán’s Garifuna community.
At the Punta Gorda play park, the sweets were packed into piñatas—because, naturally, the children had to work a little for their treats! The Navy inflated its bouncy castle, giving the kids plenty of opportunity to burn off all that sugar.
Under the welcome shade of a gazebo, Nayelhi, Chris, Angela and our volunteer Allison kept the celebration going, serving cake and juice to a seemingly endless stream of happy children.
Then it was time to pack up and redeploy across the bay to Pandy Town in Oak Ridge, an underserved community where many families face economic hardship.
There, we did it all over again: cake, juice, treats, laughter and plenty of excited children. Seeing the happiness not only on the children's faces, but also on those of their parents, made every bit of the effort worthwhile.
But there was one small logistical problem at the end of the day: we still had a lot of cake left!.
We loaded Chris and Abigail, our Honduran Navy coordinator, into the back of the pickup, mounted the RUG banner, and set off through Oak Ridge and along the main road west. Whenever we spotted children along the way, we stopped and handed out cake. The celebration simply continued down the road!
It was a wonderful day for the children, their parents, our RUG volunteers—and, judging by the smiles, the men and women of the Honduran Navy enjoyed it just as much as we did.
Today, together, we made life a little sweeter for many.
A huge thank-you to every single person who contributed their time, energy, baking skills, supplies and enthusiasm to make this possible. This is what happens when community, friendship and service come together.
Rotary magic—in partnership with the Honduran Navy!
Here is a link to another Children;s Day supported by RUG
