Spring festival features food, fun
A water dunk was one of the games that young people participated in during the
Destiny Church Spring Festival on Saturday.
Photo by St. Clair Murraine
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer
About a dozen resource agencies or foundations had their services on display Saturday afternoon. Just nearby, people took advantage of free hamburgers and hotdogs.
And, tucked in another area were tables of free food for the taking. Bags were filled with mangos, squash and cucumber. Boxes of orange juice and an assortment of bread were on the take-as-much as you desire list.
It was a little bit more than Nickesah Jones was expecting when she showed up for the annual Destiny Church Festival off Corwin Drive on Tallahassee’s north side.
“I didn’t expect them to have some of the community things and information they have here,” said Jones, whose daughter is a member of Desiny’s elite cheer squad. “I thought it would be more of a church event and not the communication they have.”
The event is the brainchild of Destiny Church’s minister Clarence Jackson, who founded the church four years ago. A native of Gretna, he decided to put on the festival as a way of creating awareness of service that people in need could use.
It’s an extension of the church’s outreach mission to provide food and clothes for the needy, he said.
“We wanted to invite the community in because we are always going to the community,” Jackson said. “This is an opportunity where we are saying we want to invite you in. It’s a big party we throw for the community.”
Four years ago, Gov. Rick Scott awarded the church for its community involvement efforts.
“When you do something like a spring festival, you get a few people who are in dire need for food,” Jackson said. “They come over and they get a bag.”
Most of the vegetables and fruits that were given away were from the church’s partnership that it has with Farm Share. Takers were constant all afternoon.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” said Lakeacha Johnson, one of the volunteers. “It’s such a blessing to give back to the community. I think people understand what they are getting and they respect that it is; not just a community event, but something they are getting for nothing.”
