san francisco — Children from San Francisco’s Tenderloin District ate pizza, bounced in a bouncy house, painted faces and picked up bags of candy Wednesday during the neighborhood’s first-ever Pumpkin Patch Festival.
The Tenderloin neighborhood near City Hall is among these places San Francisco is the most troubledrife with open drug use and homelessness. But it also has Highest concentration for children In San Francisco, an estimated 3,000 children are from largely immigrant families.
The idea for this event came from parents served by the nonprofit Compass Family Services. They suggested a field trip to the pumpkin patch for Halloween, said Erica Kish, the group’s CEO.
Kish quickly organized an outing. Then I thought, why not bring a pumpkin patch for the kids?
“The Tenderloin kids deserve something like this in their neighborhood,” said Kish, who was dressed as a green dinosaur. “They shouldn’t have to travel elsewhere.”
Laura Lugo, 7, carried two orange bags filled with candy. Kit Kat is her favorite.
She said she was wearing a long black dress, not to be a specific person for Halloween, but because she wanted to look fancy. It was her family Living in an RV I recently moved into an apartment with the help of Compass.
“I love it,” her mother, Laura Clavijo, said in Spanish of the new home.
Children from neighborhood schools and child care programs came throughout the day, accompanied by teachers and other trusted adults shepherding them safely along the city’s chaotic streets. They sat on the floor in circles eating pizza, some of them wearing pajamas for pajama day.
Lucy Fang was accompanied by her 11-year-old son, who was carrying a pumpkin. She doesn’t like her children to witness drug use and creepy behavior on the street. But then there are events like the pumpkin patch.
“They have the luxury of attending this type of event in front of City Hall,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
Local businesses and groups were eager to donate to the event, Kish said.
“There’s a lot of stress and a lot going on, it’s very difficult right now,” she said. “And we wanted to come out here with joy as a form of resilience.”