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SWOP is hosting Winter Kickbacks with youth from the community and come rain, sleet, snow, or extremely cold weather, SWOP’s youth leaders continue to deliver youth-led community events. On December 23rd, 2022, SWOP held one of these events during one of the coldest days of the year which also occurred during a blizzard. Although the cold and blizzard tried to bring an end to the fun, over 100 community members came out to celebrate and share in the spectacle of the holidays at the Marquette Park Fieldhouse. Families came out and enjoyed the hot chocolate bar, holiday cookie decoration, dancing, free barbers, DJ, food table, games, face painting and gift giveaways. Even ABC 7 News couldn’t help but come support and report on the festivities occurring in the community and the perseverance of the youth that made it all possible.

“It was a fun and chill experience and you got to make a lot of connections with people you wouldn’t usually connect with. It was a challenging but fun experience that I’m glad I got to participate in.” Evelyn, a youth who took part in the preparation for the Winter Series Kickback shared. Some of Evelyn’s peers also stated that as they had drawn closer to the day of the event, they were nervous due to wondering if all their preparations had been enough, but on the day of the kickback everything went perfectly, and they could not be prouder of the progress they made.

SWOP will be hosting another Kickback Game Night at the Marquette Park Fieldhouse on Friday, January 6th from noon to 4 p.m. as the Finale for the Winter Kickback Series. The young people planning the event are putting just as much effort in making it a success as this one.

Click the link below to check out ABC7’s story on the Winter Series Kickback:
https://abc7chicago.com/12607495/

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