West Valley’s Spring Fling: a Salute to the Season

By Avi Vieira
Glendale

This week one n ten West Valley celebrated springtime with a bit of trivia, themed decorations, and an activity allowing youth to get hands on with spring growth. With the space decorated with cutouts of eggs, flowers, baby chicks, and rabbits, the evening began with a bit of trivia about the origins of spring celebrations with pagan celebrations of the equinox and the end of winter and how symbols such as eggs and rabbits represented rebirth and fertility after the desolation of winter.

Youth were then given flower pots, potting soil, and a mix of flower seeds to create their own mini flower garden as their own symbol of spring rebirth. Encouraged to decorate their pots and choose their own blend of flowers they wished to grow, participants were given the challenge to keep their flowers alive as they will be judged at a later time. It was a fun way to celebrate springtime with an activity that encouraged creativity now, and nurturing qualities in the longer term as the youth care for their plants and watch them grow – not altogether different from what volunteers and staff do with our LGBTQ youth every day.

The rest of the evening was devoted to social time for the group, because what better excuse than springtime to simply relax and socialize than upcoming holidays? It kept the mood light, fun, and positive for everyone as we had our own celebration and even got our hands a little dirty in the process.