LETTER FROM DIRECTOR Change, Transform, Emerge
Dear You, Yes you, our most favorite reader! As we begin 2022 the theme of this year's Texas Recreation and Park Society (TRAPS) Annual Conference is prevalent in my mind; Change, Transform, and Emerge. This February I transitioned from the TRAPS Therapeutic Recreation (TR) Branch President to Past President, having served in 2021 to represent Brownsville and TR Branch members throughout the state as we recovered through the pandemic and help them serve their clients, individuals with disabilities and disorders, whether they be veterans, youth, elderly working in hospitals or at a recreation center. As I think of this theme to be so accurate to what so many of us are experiencing, I think to another prevalent question that was posed during the pandemic, how will we come out the other side? While we continue to mourn those lost, the Brownsville Beautification Committee and several founders: the City of Brownsville, Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, Brownsville Public Utilities Board, and other partners in development are working on a special remembrance project called A Forest Remembers, a planted tree for each person lost to COVID, we are humble and grateful to assist in this project and have it featured in our park system. We resumed services in 2021 and our department experienced new growth, we had A LOT of people transition out into new roles in their lives bringing in new people, we have focused on leadership at all levels of the organization so that we can better serve you. We have partnered with some amazing organizations and people to bring access to play, honoring our history and culture, and putting a twist on literacy; the top few that
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come to mind are the Monte Bella Park KABOOM! Playground Build with Tech Enabled Play, Washington Park Lone Star Legacy Park Designation, and our Storybook Trail along the Southmost Nature Trail. At Monte Bella we were able to partner with a national non-profit KABOOM! and a secret funder who wanted to install a playground in Brownsville. Through partnership with United Way of Southern Cameron County, Strive Together, and RGV Focus we were able to take the dream playgrounds submitted by children here in Brownsville to the beautiful structure that is there today. This playground is enabled with coding capabilities so that kids can code their play experience, it is the first in Texas and third in the nation!
On March 10, 2021, the City of Brownsville Parks and Recreation Department was one of eight Texas parks to receive a treasured historical designation and is proud to boast that we are
