Grand Terrace Gets "Ready, Set, Safe!" with Annual Community Celebration

GRAND TERRACE >> Grand Terrace celebrated another year of its annual Community Day, hosted by the Foundation of Grand Terrace, June 4 at Richard Rollins Park. Businesses, organizations, and residents came out in full support of their community to the theme of, "Ready, Set, Safe!" presented by Healthy GT. People of all ages enjoyed the 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. event despite the heat, cooling off with snow cones, watching live entertainment, playing in the Kids Zone, strolling about the vendor booths, and learning more about disaster preparedness. “The overall goal is to have an event in the city for the residents of the city where the residents can come together and meet people, meet the businesses, and just have a good time," said Sally McGuire, chairperson of the events and Healthy GT committees for the Foundation. Every year, Community Day has a different theme. For 2015, the goal was to focus on the health initiative "Let's Get Moving!" With this year's "Ready, Set, Safe!" McGuire, a Grand Terrace resident and long-time participant of Community Day, said the goal was to connect with the community and communicate plans in case a disaster should ever occur. "Our goal this year is to try to get the city, the residents, the businesses, the churches, faith-based communities—everybody together because everybody has some kind of plan in the event of a disaster, but nobody knows what it is," McGuire said. "Only those people know what it is.” Among the different community organizations that came out to promote the theme was the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, represented by Sylvia Beasley, sheriff's service specialist, and Joe Borrielli and "Cowboy" Ray Burns, volunteers with the Central Station Citizens on Patrol unit and members of Grand Terrace. Beasley said the Citizens on Patrol unit is designed to be the "eyes and the ears" of the community. “They’re giving back to the community and the sheriff’s department," Beasley said, "and they also get a lot of training.” The unit is 53 members strong, from 18 years to 80 years of age. They meet once a month and, after completing 40 hours of training, patrol the communities of Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, and San Bernardino. "We patrol, and then hopefully the vehicle—which is a police-oriented vehicle—hopefully discourages people from doing something wrong while they’re driving around," Borrielli said. Borrielli has been a part of the Citizens on Patrol unit for five years, and Burns just completed his training and has been patrolling for the past few months. "Every day, you don’t know what just might come up," Burns said. Another organization at Community Day was the Foundation of Grand Terrace's Dog Park Committee, represented by Mike and Bev Auld and President Tom Rice. The Dog Park Committee just recently celebrated a success—after 10 years of fundraising, determination, and deliberation, the conceptual plans for the first City of Grand Terrace Dog Park have just been released, funded by Quimby fees and the community of Grand Terrace. "People come to see us at our booth and ask us, ‘When is this going to get off the ground?’" Rice said. "Finally, now, we’ve got the city involved, we’ve got conceptual plans. It won’t be so long before we’ve got construction drawings and we’ll be pushing the city to get this out to bed. It’s picked up pace, really." Mike added that they could not have done it without City Manager G. Harold Duffey, who showed up to one of their meetings and told them about Quimby fees, which can be used for designated park spaces in Grand Terrace. The Foundation over the years has raised approximately $12,000 within the community to designate toward the park, which will be located at Vista Grande Way and Grand Terrace Road. Mike said preliminary estimates for the park are $240,000 to $250,000. Quimby fees, and donations from the community, will help bring the park from a concept to a reality. "What Mr. Duffey told us was it was because we had this group of people who have for years continued to plod away in very difficult circumstances that we’re at the top of the list for the parks," Mike said. Mike added that if all goes as planned and the construction plans are developed by the end of the year so the city can start bidding for construction options, the park might go into place as soon as fall 2017. "We haven’t been able to do this without the complete support of the people of Grand Terrace attending our events," he said. Along with the remainder of the vendor booths at Community Day, people also enjoyed performances by dancers from Dance Dimensions Performing Arts, Jazzercise, and Habu Tae Kwon Do. A designated Kids Zone and bicycle course also gave children a chance to stretch their legs. McGuire said at the end of the day that despite the heat, it was overall a success. If anyone is interested in being on the events committee for next year, McGuire can be contacted at (909) 238-9944. “We are looking for some volunteers who really want to get involved to at least not just that day, but with the committee to work with it two or three or four or five months ahead of time," McGuire said. A full list of vendors: 3Ring Creative - Marisa Frakes & Steve Meads American Red Cross Amputee Connection - Bill Nessel Assembly Member Cheryl Brown Banh Smiles Orthodontics - Dr. Dan Banh BBVA Compass Bank - Marie Lopez Bob Shaved Ice & Fresh Lemonade Brookdale Senior Living - Tammy Lundeen Calskate Grand Terrace - Stan & Kacy Carlsen City of Grand Terrace Child Care - Lind Phillips Cruzin' Tacos - Mario Ramirez Cochran Consulting - Curtis Cochran Dance Dimensions Performing Arts - Cherie Gomez Dirt & Diamonds Foundation of Grand Terrace Dog Park Committee - Mike & Bev Auld Foundation of Grand Terrace Healthy GT Committee - Sally McGuire Foundation of Grand Terrace Veterans Committee - Bob Lavin Friends of Blue Mountain - Denis Kidd Grand Terrace Area Chamber of Commerce - Anthony Cortez Grand Terrace Community Soccer Club - John Echevarria Grand Terrace Community Soccer Club running the Snack Bar Grand Terrace Jr. All American Titan Youth Football & Cheer - Hayward Robinson Grand Terrace Lions Club - Dani Bubier Grand Terrace Senior Center - Jane Haines Habu Tae Kwon Do - Master Ewing Inland Empire Biking Alliance - Nina Mohammed Jazzercise - Jenny Beach Lowbrow Ink - Jason Greeley Mental Health Systems - Jeanell Emond Minnie & Maximum Cheer Group - Jaqueline Bulger Real Time Pain Relief - Tom & Catherine Alton Riverside Highland Water - Don Hough Riverside North Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness - Tim Hoge Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District - Erin Snyder San Bernardino City Sheriff's - Sylvia Beasley Scentsy - Laissa Esquivel SCI/Dignity MEmroail - Eufemia Reyes SoCal Subs - Tessa Makshanoff Sonny's Medical Supplies - Vivian Ontiveros Spring Hills Family Dentistry - Dr. Lalisa Yaowarattana Sterling Silver Jewelry - Jeanette Farr Team Koral Reef Team Rah Rah for Healthy Tata's - Tracey Padula The Rec Center - Jennifer Araiza Toastmasters Grand Terrace - Lydia Dunn Tupperware - Donna Johnson Updog - Stan & Kacy Carlsen Volunteers of America - Blanca Maldonado World Financial Group - Louis Brantmeyer A full list of sponsors: Balloon Team Promotions CalSkate Grand Terrace City News Group City of Grand Terrace Dance Dimensions Performing Arts Center Fiesta Village Family Fun Center Grand Terrace Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation of Grand Terrace Healthy GT Inland Empire Biking Alliance Lion David Radtke - District Governor Elect Grand Terrace Lions Club American National Red Cross Updog Grand Terrace Women's Club