VALDOSTA – “Are you ready?”

“Yeah!”

The excited screams of dozens of school-aged children filled the Southside Recreation Center’s main room this past Saturday as executive director Rachel Bradley roused the audience to prepare for The Great Egg Hunt.

Since 2004, The Great Egg Hunt has been an annual staple at the recreation center. Bradley originally developed the event as a way for teenagers in the community to help mentor their younger siblings while getting a chance to celebrate the Easter holiday.

“We were doing a program for teenagers, so we wanted to give them an idea on how to mentor a child. So we had them bring their little brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews to spend a whole day with them. That’s how the Egg Hunt started. We wanted to take a regular event and make it more meaningful,” Bradley said.

Despite the name, hunting for eggs wasn’t the only planned activity for the day. The event also consisted of several rounds of bingo, a bunny hop game, and a bean bag toss. All the winners were awarded with gift baskets that consisted of toys, treats like Skittles and Kit-Kats, and the famous Easter chocolate bunny.

Non-winners didn’t leave empty-handed, as all participants were treated to cake, cupcakes and cookies for their efforts.

“We want to make sure that everyone has fun, so we try to make sure to award as many kids as possible. But everybody is going to leave with something. Everybody is going to get something out of it whether it be a basket or some cookies,” she said.

Toward the end of the day, Canvis Thomas, the center’s program director, announced that Southside Recreation Center had received funding for after-school programming. Thomas urged anyone looking for summer care to reach out, sign-up and fill out the application. 

To learn more, call the Southside Recreation Center at (229) 242-6764.