The Friends Program's Friends-A-Palooza Slated For July 26 At Concord's Keach Park

CONCORD, NH — The Friends Program is taking over Keach Park in Concord to celebrate International Friendship Day!

Friends-a-Palooza is a family-fun event filled with free activities for kids of all ages. We will have crafts and field games, face-painting, kids safety demonstrations, obstacle courses, music, dance, snacks, swag and even ice cream and pizza. More than 30 Community organizations are joining the fun this year, including the state of New Hampshire emergency services, Concord Library, Waypoint, Community Action, Concord Community Music School, and the Discovery Center.

Friends-a-Palooza is designed to celebrate families and raise awareness of The Friends Program and area services for youth and families. The event is open to the entire community and includes special outreach to the at-risk youth in the local area: 75% of the children served by the Friends Program live below the federal poverty level, and more than two-thirds are from New American families.

The Friends Program is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) agency located in Concord. Founded in 1975 as a social service organization, the Friends Program provides direct service and recruits, trains and manages volunteers to meet community needs. Our mission is to build positive connections and solutions for at-risk youth, families, and seniors.

The fourth annual Friends-a-Palooza event will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on July 26.

The Friends Program serves eight NH counties and works on behalf of the state’s most vulnerable populations. The agency strives to meet its mission through the implementation of mentoring programs for at-risk youth, emergency housing for families with children, an intergenerational program that creates meaningful opportunities for seniors to work with children in classrooms, and a senior volunteer program that links a volunteer's skills to otherwise unmet needs within the communities that we serve.

The Friends-a-Palooza event is free. To learn more about the complete list of participating organizations and the Friends Program, visit our website: friendsprogram.org.

Submitted by Laura Miller, development director, The Friends Program