Soon to be Purdy Avenue resident Alvin Vargas, 16, gets ready to jump above his opponents and score during a Unity Day scrimmage basketball game. Vargas was one of many who came out to Columbus Park on Saturday, Sept. 28, to celebrate Unity Day, a tradition that brings together past and current residents of Port Chester’s public housing units.
Grace Church Street resident Brandon Rodriguez, 10, stands over his 8-year-old brother James as he carefully squirts yellow paint onto a plate so they can decorate a wooden truck as part of a free workshop offered by The Home Depot.
Member of the Port Chester Housing Authority board Lou Larizza stands with his wife Nella on the basketball court to be honored during Unity Day. The Larizza’s donated new backboards for the hoops in memory of their son Louis, a competitive basketball player, who died two years ago.
Wearing a shirt that reads “No guns, no cry, only God,” Lou Vincent, a Winston Salem, N.C. resident who spearheaded Unity Day almost 30 years ago with his brother Derek, stands on the basketball court.
Port Chester resident Hattie Adams gets ready to release a white balloon in memory of the family members she lost during the past year. Adams was one of many who simultaneously let go of a balloon during the event.
Holding a basketball almost half his size, one-year-old Westchester Avenue resident Mason Moody gets ready for his turn to shoot the ball.
Before one of the basketball games, Pearl Street resident Luis Santana, 16, gets ready to play by shooting a free throw.
Unity Day participants release white balloons on the basketball courts of Columbus Park in memory of their loved ones who died recently.
