A day for families

To celebrate the end of the school year, Head Start students and their families attended the Washoe Family Day at Lampe Park Friday afternoon.

A bicycle rodeo, piñatas, a barbecue and a song performed by the 4 and 5-year-olds were all part of the festivities.

"It's an opportunity for our families to get together with children and staff," said director of Head Start in Dresslerville Gil Gonzales. "That's what we're all about, bringing families together."

Special guests who attended this eighth annual event - members of the 459th Civil Engineer Squadron of the U.S. Air Force Reserves - traveled from Atlanta, Ga., to build new facilities for the tribe as part of their training. The volunteers have been working since early April on converting a store into a Wellness Center in Dresslerville and on a 5,100-square-foot school and education center on Clear Creek Avenue in North Douglas County for the Stewart Colony. Both projects should be completed by mid-June.

"Our mission is training, strictly training," said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Kenneth Woody. "We can't get stuff like this at our base."

Training for the volunteers means helping "hardship areas" said Woody. Twenty to 30 people were working in two-week shifts, each learning a job like carpentry or plumbing.

A sign thanking the Air Force volunteers hung from a booth. They were invited to have lunch with the tribe.

"Actually, we help out a lot of Indian communities," said Woody. "People are really friendly everywhere we go."

Winners of the bicycle rodeo were chosen in a raffle held after the competition and everybody took home a prize.