‘Soaring to new heights’ for Hispanic Heritage

Flying kites, a fun activity for children and families, isn’t often associated with a meaningful event like a fundraiser. But in Long Beach last Saturday, kites meant much more than a good time on a sunny day.

The Long Beach Latino Civic Association, teaming up with the city, held a kite festival on the beach at Magnolia Boulevard to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, which began Sept. 15. While no one was exactly sure of the timeline, this was the first Hispanic Heritage Month event on the city calendar in at least a decade.

“I’m Puerto Rican, and I go to Puerto Rico occasionally,” Nicole Fader, vice president of the civic association, said. “In San Juan they have the great lawn, and every Sunday the community gets together and they fly kites there. So, I just thought it was such a beautiful idea to bring everyone together like this.”

Just over 80 people registered for the event, but they brought along their children, spouses, family members or friends. So altogether, there were 300 or so people gathered on the beach, flying blue and white Latino Civic Association kites. The theme for the day was “Soaring to new heights.”

The city donated $500 to the organization for the event, some of which was used to purchase the kites. Some of the kites were donated, or brought by the people who flew them. There were a wide variety of colors and designs, among them a pirate ship, a shark and a skeleton.

The event began with a group meditation, and it offered face painting for children as well. “We wanted this to be inclusive to everybody,” Fader said. “We wanted everyone to be able to fly a kite and gather.”

The association also collected money from anyone who wanted to donate, to send aid to Puerto Rico to help those affected by Hurricane Fiona. The event raised about $200, but that wasn’t the end of the association’s fundraising efforts. Members plan to continue to raise money to help residents of Puerto Rico at the group’s annual gala, at the Bridgeview Yacht Club, in Island Park, on Oct. 27.

Helen Dorado Alessi, the association’s executive director, who is half Cuban and half Puerto Rican, said the group’s plan was to help the Puerto Rico community the way it did after Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the island in 2017.

“Our goal is to raise enough money to send to the Puerto Rico Community Foundation,” Alessi explained. “We learned that it can be very hard to send materials from here to there. So we also want to send gift cards to the Community Foundation, for them to distribute to the residents and nonprofits on the ground there. We don’t want to corrode the environment by sending things like batteries.”

Civic association members hope for many more donations at the gala, which features Latin music, a dinner and dancing. The kite flying was intended to be a more inclusive lead-up to the event — “something that everyone can enjoy, since mostly Latin people enjoy Latin music,” Fader said.

“Long Beach, I’ve noticed, is one of the most charitable places on the planet,” Alessi added.

The association was founded in 1995. According to its website, it focuses on health and welfare, education, civic engagement and philanthropic events. According to the latest U.S. Census figures, about 13 percent of Long Beach’s approximately 34,000 residents identify as Latino or Hispanic.