The City
of Fall River and SSTAR, an
addiction treatment and health care center, recently launched a program
called Project Assist
under the Community
Resilience and Recovery Initiative (CRRI).
The program, funded by a $5.6 million, four-year
grant from SAMSHA, the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, provides counseling
and treatment services for residents affected by the bad economy. One
aspect of the project is to provide positive experiences, especially for
those who are affected by poverty or unemployment, so a series of three
Neighborhood Fun Days were planned during the summer of 2011. The first
one was held on June 28th at Lafayette Park and featured free food, fun
games and activities for children, and access to community resources
tables. Click here
for a 
video of the event. Click
here for photos of a Project Assist job club meeting. For more information,
contact Paula Beaulieu at
508-837-6957.
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(Top row) Fun
Day participants stop at the Soda-free
Summer Pledge table to sign up and to get a refreshing cup of cold
water, including Alexis Sharples, Stacia Honeyman and Curtis Davis, right.
(Second row, left) Former NBA Basketball star Chris
Herren autographs a copy of his book, Hoop Dreams, for Maria
Costa and Beatrice Rogers. (Second row, center) Nine-year-old Dakota
Goodman gets ready to try climbing a rock wall. (Second row, right)
Carolyn Mello and Sierra Souza are thrilled to get stickers from Lisa
Alves of the WIC
Program. (Third row, left) Eleven-year-old Samanth Haskins, center,
dances during one of the contests run by DJ Joey DaSilva of the Fall
River Housing Authority. (Third row, center) Samantha Mathias holds a
ball she won in a dance contest. (Third row, right) Michelle Blanco has
body art applied by Wendy Garf-Lipp of United
Neighbors of Fall River. (Bottom row) People line up for food served
by CD-REC program director Jamison
Souza, Project Assist
director Paula Beaulieu, CD-REC executive director Grace Gerling and Fall
River youth services coordinator Christian McCloskey.
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