SECTIONS of Central Kingston came alive Saturday as scores of children from the Southside community and surrounding areas braved the midday sun to partake in a Christmas treat put on by City Life Ministries and a number of corporate sponsors.

Over 1,000 children from Tower Street, Tivoli Gardens, Matthews Lane and Tel-Aviv gathered at the corner of South Camp Road and Tower Street to enjoy the merrymaking. They were treated to food, music, games, rides and a concert, which featured a number of competitions for prizes.

Executive director for City Life Ministries pastor Carrington Peter Morgan said the main aim of the treat was to bring the community together and to strengthen the bond his team has had with the community for the past five years.

“We have been in Southside for about five years and we have always said that we want to do programmes that are full of excitement and full of movement, and we love the sound of the kids and we love to see a lot of action, and so we always keep a Christmas treat,” he said.

He said a number of organisations had come on board to help make the treat a possibility, including the Digicel Foundation and the National Commercial Bank Foundation whose volunteers interacted with the residents and monitored the rides.

And residents of the various communities represented at the treat only had positive things to say.

Foster Lane resident Christopher Maitland said he was making use of his day off from work, by taking his children to enjoy the day’s activities.

“It is a good idea, because when the violence a gwaan inna the community, nothing can’t keep, but when the people come together like this, no war can’t gwaan,” he said as he held his six-month-old daughter, Crissan to his chest while manoeuvring his three-year-old son through the large throng of children.

Likewise George Reid, who was seen monitoring his two young sons as they joined a long queue to collect ice-cream, said he too was happy that the treat was bringing the youths together.

“They are trying to uplift the community and that’s a good thing,” he said.

Pastor Morgan said although the treat was primarily geared towards the children, it was a strategic way to get the adults to work for a common cause.

“The way that we do projects is to put it as if we are focusing on the kids as a target, but everybody jumps on board, so you will find the young men carrying the stuff and setting things up and then you will have the women who are sharing and they are cooking as we speak,” he said.