WASHINGTON — A D.C. community hit hard by violence is celebrating life. India Blocker has been making an impact in Southeast for more than a decade. On Thursday she hosted her annual summer kick-off.
Woodland Funday is in its eighth year. Nearly 150 kids from Woodland Terrace and surrounding communities came out for a day of water fun, food, and fellowship. Seven giant inflatable slides filled the courtyard at Woodland Terrace as teens laughed and dumped buckets of water on each other, while little ones took turns going down the slides, and others had fun in the dunk tank.
In a community that has seen its share of violence, Thursday was a day to smile and have fun.
“It’s bringing a lot of peace to the community,” said 17-year-old Toni Smith.
“It’s joy. It brings happiness,” said mom Tracy Allen.
“There’s a lot of pain and a lot of trauma, so we don’t have anything to gravitate to but each other,” said organizer India Blocker.
Blocker pours into the children of this community. Beyond this one day, she mentors children through her modeling program and hosts frequent trips.
“When you grow up in an environment and you see so many different things, violence, people living in poverty, you want to give back especially if you’re doing well for yourself,” she explained, “this is still my community.”
“We need to see more of this,” said MPD 7D Police Commander LaShay Makal. “We all have been highlighting the negative things that are going on in that space, especially around kids and juveniles. It’s phenomenal to see them smiling to see them laughing and enjoying themselves.”
Commander Makal said the community day helps build bridges and relationships between police officers and neighbors.
“They trust her, and they see she trusts me also,” said Commander Makal. “I think further that relationship that community police relationship.”
“We haven’t had anyone like her in a long time, someone that cares genuinely and loves the community as much as she does,” said Blocker.
In fact, Commander Makal just honored Blocker as this month’s Woman of Ward 8 - a new award (for men and women) designed to highlight and thank the heroes of the community.
“I’m going to do what I do. If I’m acknowledged, I am, if not so be it,” said Blocker. “It doesn’t matter to me as long as the people are happy, and the kids are ok.”
The event was sponsored by IndyB Mentoring and Modeling Agency, Metropolitan Police, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety & Justice, Advisory Neighborhood Commision8B, Department of Parks and Recreation, and Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative.