Letting out a collective scream of excitement at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, dozens of children bearing baskets, buckets and bags poured out of a pavilion at Lake Mayer Community Park to collect Easter eggs.
Tre Cutter, 6, and Thuhid Stewart, 5, also called “Peanut,” could scarcely contain their excitement as they darted from tree to tree hunting eggs.
Cutter, of Columbia, S.C., was staying with his grandmother, Susan Wilborn, for spring break. Wilborn and her friend Donna Hutcheson, Peanut’s grandmother, decided to go to the event, put on by local nonprofit Seaport Raiders They weren’t disappointed.
“As long as they’re having a good time, we’re having a good time,” Hutcheson said of her grandson and Cutter.
Seaport Raiders, a sports and after-school organization for at-risk youth, hosted the Easter celebration. Staff and volunteers served lunch and monitored sack races, tug of war and other games and raffled prizes.
“We just wanted to give back to the community,” said Seaport Raiders President Derrick Bing. “You know, a lot of families are having economically hard times, and we know that parents just can’t afford the traditional Easter Sunday service anymore. We just wanted to make sure that those that were less fortunate can come out and have some good family activity.”
After all the plastic eggs were plucked from their hiding spots, the children who weren’t too sleepy gathered with their families to examine their prizes.
Miracle Days, 1, smiled in her stroller as her parents Kila and Jeffrey Days helped her open the eggs and unwrap the candy.
The Days’ 8-year-old son, Carlos Jones, started playing football, basketball and baseball with the Seaport Raiders recently.
They said they enjoyed the opportunity to get the family together with others on Easter.
“It’s been really good — really nice,” Jeffrey Days said.
ON THE WEB
Go to savannahnow.com to watch video from the Seaport Raiders Easter celebration at Lake Mayer Community Park.