Pine Island holds 40th Annual Kiwanis Junior Olympics
Local Pine Island Kiwanian Mike Shevlin was out on the field leading kids from kindergarten through fifth grade in the Annual Junior Olympic Games at Phillips Park on Saturday.
“It was really great,” Shevlin said, “especially with the way the weather started out.”
He said he couldn’t have been happier with the amount of families who showed for the games. Not quite certain what to expect, as far as numbers, Shevlin said he was thrilled by the attendance.
“I really appreciate Lee County Parks and Rec, Kiwanis, Horizon Bank, who did the silver dollars, Stearns Construction, Waggoner & Bruehl and Team Shevlin sponsored the T-shirts. It’s kind of a community project for the kids on the island,” Shevlin said.
Lee County Parks and Recreation teamed up with Shevlin and Kiwanis from the beginning, to form a partnership, he said, adding that they do all the paper work, get all the ribbons and even setup in advance, while Kiwanis, gets the trophies, hot dogs and tee shirts.
“It all just flows together. There’s no real science to it. Everyone just seems to want to help — they enjoy watching these kids running around and working hard to get across the line. It’s just a lot of fun. I certainly hope we can do this forever. We have a great island, great people and the best kids. Hopefully we’ll have more and more for the kids. It just makes me feel happy,” Shevlin said.