The Levittown Kiwanis Club, in celebrating its 50th year of service to the community, has begun planning a Community Pride Day for May 13, and is seeking help from local organizations and residents to plan, promote, and pay for the event which will be free and open to everyone.

The goal of the Community Pride Day is to highlight what is best about Levittown. The Community Pride Day Committee held a meeting this past Tuesday to speak to community organizations about the plans for this event and to get some additional ideas and help in the development and implementation of these plans.

Steve Haller, the chairman of the Kiwanis' 50th Anniversary Committee, introduced the event to those gathered at this week's organizational meeting, and explained that the event will take place on Saturday, May 13 at MacLaren Field, for approximately 3-4 hours. Haller then turned the program over to Joanne Regan and Donna Ryan, who gave further details about the Community Pride Day.

Regan began by stating, "We have a lot in Levittown to be proud of." She went on to explain that the goal of the Community Pride Day was to showcase what Levittown has to offer, the organizations that make up the community. While a large part of the day will focus on events for the children, such as pony rides, face painting and sand art, the Kiwanis Club would also like the organizations within the community to have booths or tables with some sort of display or demonstration of what the organization offers. All community groups are encouraged to participate in this event, which will be free to everyone.

In order to offer all the attractions that the Kiwanis Club wishes to offer, they need some help from the community. The club is seeking ideas, volunteers and donations to make this day one that everyone in Levittown can enjoy.

Ryan explained that Community Pride Day would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and they would like to be able to serve bagels and juice in the morning and possibly hot dogs and sodas around noon. She noted, "What we are looking for is people to sponsor some of these things."

The meeting was then opened up for comments or suggestions. Levittown School District Superintendent Herman Sirois questioned whether the Key Clubs would be involved, to which Kiwanis members answered that they would like them to be involved as well as some of the other school groups such as the students from the Levittown Vocational Center. Someone else asked if any of the music groups from the schools would be invited to perform, to which the response was, "That would be great, we are excluding no one. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome." Haller noted that they would also like to involve groups such as the police department, Scouts, and the ambulance corps.

The committee is planning to have a showmobile for any performances which may take place. They also noted that MacLaren Field is very large which will allow plenty of room for all the organizations to spread out their displays. The amount of room at MacLaren was one of the reasons why the site was chosen, but Haller noted that another reason was because, located on Loring Road, the field would be very easy for everyone to find.

The Community Pride Committee has asked that besides donations, they would also like everyone to spread the word so the whole community can be involved in this event. Joanne Regan noted that they will take all the help they can get in putting the Community Pride Day together. "As far as donations go," said Haller, "We would appreciate anything you can give." He went on to say that those who donate will have their names included in any publicity items that go out. "Open up your hearts," said Haller.

Kevin Regan, president of the Levittown Kiwanis Club stated, "This can really pull the community together. We would appreciate your cooperation so it can become a total community event."