The Power Of A Community Event #FatherhoodIsLit

There’s always something to do with your kids when you live in a big city like NYC.

It’s very easy to find something and most of the times you end up doing things with strangers. However; there’s nothing like seeing people you know at a local community event!

This year we attended a local event called Musication hosted at the world famous 50/50 Skate Park in NYC. It’s in its 5th year of raising money for kids art and music supplies via it’s Lark Fund!

It was off the hook and showed me why community events are really needed, even in big cities! Check out why below!

Brings The Local Community Together

Life gets busy really quick in a huge city like NYC, sometimes we don’t even know our next-door neighbors.

I live in a building and besides the people on my floor, I barely interact with anyone else. I’m pretty sure many in NYC deal with the same thing and that’s what makes a local event special!

At Musication5 my kids were exposed to old and new people in a fun environment. Now instead of just waving at a neighbor and not knowing their name, we actually stopped to have a real conversation.

We went from hey I know you, you live in my building to what do you do? Who are you, really? Local events are a great way to actually meet the people around you without feeling pressured to do so.

Great Way To Get A Message Across

Photo By Kristopher Johnson

You know how people say it takes a village to raise your kids?

It’s true and sometimes the best way to bring awareness to something is via the village that you may not even know exists. Local events are great for this!

Musication 5 focused on the arts, something our Board Of Education has basically thrown a huge middle finger at by cutting school budgets.

Kids need the arts to expose them to new thoughts and people but sometimes lack the funds for supplies. Musication5 helped by awarding grants to teachers who need help paying for these supplies while bringing awareness to the issue.

Did you know teachers spend their own money to help our kids? Did you also know that the average teacher will never make 6 figures?

Many people don’t know this and Musication 5 put a spotlight on that. By rallying the local community they were able to raise thousands of dollars to help students. They also got their message across without force feeding it to the local community.

They were able to raise so much money because they tied a story that mattered to their local community. No parent likes to see their kid’s education take a hit, so everyone was willing to party but also donate to help others in need!

Local Talent Can Shine At A Community Event

Photo By Kristopher Johnson

There are some seriously talented people out there and they too get lost due to our hectic lives.

Community events are a great way to give local talents a place to shine! Musication had no shortage of talent and everyone was different!

They had artists doing live portraits and art. They had kids from local dance schools representing and had mom and pop shops from around the way selling great food, all for a good cause.

Lyle Foxman Doing A Live Session With Mark Marvel

These were people I bumped into at the supermarket, local Chuck E Cheese and sometimes even watched our kids face off at sporting events. We didn’t know they had skills because we never took the time to get to know them.

Community events make it easy for local people to show you what they have and shine. There’s a sense of pride when you’re doing things for your community, especially with kids. We saw kids who didn’t know each other, cheer each other on as they danced to their favorite tracks.

Parents were able to see the talents other kids had while taking pride in watching their own kids represent. As a dad, it felt really good standing there with my kids cheering on kids we knew from around the way but didn’t even know their name lol.

In conclusion, a local community event like Musication5 can be really powerful!

It is a good way to rally the community around a good cause, it exposes your kids to new people and thoughts and best of all, it allows people to connect with people they see every day without being forced to!

I was able to reinforce the concept of paying it forward all night while my kids clapped for kids that they barely knew. Being able to expose them to something new is dope, being able to have fun while doing it together for a good cause is a real BLESSING!

If that’s not winning I don’t know what is, support your local community event! Major thanks to Projectivity and  StereoType Co for putting on a dope event for a great cause!

#FatherhoodIsLit