The Annual Light the Night for Kids Fundraiser; Get Ready

The annual Light the Night Fundraiser event takes place on Friday night in Belize City. Beginning at the Memorial Park, an opening ceremony followed by a march along Marine Parade and Princess Margaret Drive will conclude with a glow in the dark festival at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex. The event is organized by the Inspiration Centre and is designed to promote awareness and inclusion within the communities for children living with special needs. Executive Director Joycelyn Lopez shares details about the event which starts at six p.m.

Joycelyn Lopez

Joycelyn Lopez, Executive Director, Inspiration Centre

“It will be a very lively parade with the usual music and jump-up appropriate for kids. When we get to Marion Jones, we will have a kid’s fete. We will have TR Shine, soca king and soca queen, Ernestine Carballo so we are going to have a really good time at Marion Jones. That’s one of the changes this year beucase the usual route was Memorial Park and you go back to Memorial Park and then you have the fireworks and it is over, but this time, we are going to have some activities out at Marion Jones. The importance of this event…well it is a very small fundraiser. It is a fundraiser, but it is more of a huge awareness campaign geared mostly towards the schools—primary, secondary, tertiary—because a lot of the students participate in this walk. We want to promote inclusion. Inclusion in education, inclusion in the health system for our children with special needs. So we are promoting inclusion.”

Packages are still available at the Inspiration Centre. The funds raised will go towards the continuation of services offered at the centre. Those include medical consultations, speech and physical therapy, as well as hearing screening and club foot correction.