By Mike Kinney
With safety measures in place, community organization Soulful Softball Sunday successfully hosted its 5th Annual East Egg Hunt for children at Nicholl Park on Saturday.
A smaller version of the annual event was accomplished by forming “pods” of 10 children to send out on the egg hunt at a time, according to Soulful Softball Sunday founder and organizer Rodney Alamo Brown. Each pod was sent out looking to find plastic eggs scattered throughout the city park for five minutes. Then a new pod of 10 children would rotate in. Thirty-five children between ages one and nine participated. All were required to socially distance and wear masks.
Of the 500 colorful plastic eggs hidden throughout the park, most contained candy but 20 contained cash with a total value of $250. Also, six $25 gift cards were raffled off along with two Soulful Softball Sunday hoodies.
The event meant “the world” to children who have been deprived of fun in-person experiences amid the pandemic, Brown said.
“It allows them to roam around a huge park looking for Easter eggs; it is relaxing and fun for them to do,” he said.
One of the attending parents, Elena Bolds, called the event “beautiful.”
“This was much needed for our community,” Bolds said.
Soulful Softball Sunday, an annual community event held at Nicholl Park, is also an organization that puts on a number of other community gatherings and fundraisers throughout the year, many of them at Nicholl Park.
The organization said it misses hosting its large pre-pandemic gatherings and is looking forward to resuming normal activities when public health officials say it is safe to do so again.
“We are yearning to get back to normalcy, however we acknowledge all protocols and guidelines provided by the State and County,” Brown said.
