Neighborkid Dinner in Honor of Dareeona

Today we continued our tradition of Neighborkid Dinners: each month, one neighborhood child who volunteers (with the support of their family) is featured at a special dinner in their honor.  This month, we gathered in honor of 6-year-old Dareeona.

 Dareeona developed an invitation list of the people she would like to have at the “Dareeona Dinner” – a group of people she likes and hopes will work together with her, and with each other, to help realize her dreams for herself and for our neighborhood.  There are no limits placed on who each child invites.  Here’s who Darry chose: her best friend on the block; her parents, sisters and brother; four grown-up neighbors; her Grandpa who lives down the street; and one classmate (who lives 11 blocks away, at the other end of our neighborhood). 

Darry also set the menu, so here’s what we had for dinner: Steak, Corn on the Cob, Macaroni and Cheese, Scalloped Potatoes, Strawberry Juice, Sparkling Grape Juice, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

These are the activities we planned for the Dareeona Dinner:

•  eat, drink and be merry, 
• honor Darry with a special slide show in her honor, 
• share thoughts about what we like most about Dareeona, and
• hear from Dareeona, as our guest of honor, about what she hopes for herself and our neighborhood. 

 Here’s what Darry had to say in response to the 4 Questions:

•  A year from now:  That I can hold the baby.  [Her baby sister was born in December.]
• As a teenager:  I can do anything I want, like cook, and find a job, and work in class.
• As a grown-up:  I will be a teacher and teach reading books. 
• For the neighborhood:  The trees would be green and all the houses would be yellow, like Miss Joanna’s house.  [Miss Joanna is our neighbor who painted her house last summer and the kids on the block are often helping her out with yard work.]

And finally, here’s a glimpse of the celebration!

Thanks, Dareeona!