HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Saturday, March 4th, 2023 marked the 11th annual Community Kite Festival, bringing people together from all ethnic and social backgrounds, to enjoy a beautiful day of kite flying while learning about one another, and some of the multi-cultural nonprofit organizations here in Huntsville.
Looking up at the sky at John Hunt Park you'll notice, kites, and if you look closer, you'll see they're all different.
Nick Lioce, AshaKiran Foundation Chair and Vice Chair, shares, "the kites in the air symbolize a kind of social equality so there are hundreds of different kites in the air, but they're all getting along and working together. So the kite festival is for educating everybody on the cultural equalities and social equalities."
Maxwell Presha, a Huntsville resident and festival attendee says, "we're just here flying my kite…seeing the events happening."
Dominique Norwood, another Huntsville resident says, "Huntsville, you know, if you've noticed, since you've been here, it's kind of a melting pot…and I love that… this is part of the reason me and my husband are here, you know, our family and everything. We're a blended family."
The AshaKiran Foundation, City of Huntsville and Downtown Huntsville Inc. celebrate 11 years of the Community Kite Festival, meant to bring people from all different backgrounds together.
"We have exhibits from all the nonprofits and different multicultural organizations throughout the community, so everybody knows what a great community north Alabama has. But they need to know that it's multicultural and just expand our education, make sure we all get along together," Lioce said.
AshaKiran's focus is to help those in crisis while also raising cultural awareness.
Vanessa Baker, the Community Outreach Coordinator for AshaKiran, shares, "AshaKiran, it is translated to 'A Ray of Hope.' And we provide assistance and resources to victims of crisis traumas such as sexual assault, human trafficking and domestic violence."
Vanessa Bueno, Director of Operations, for AshaKiran, adds, "the impact that we have currently is on a larger scale because of the language access program that we have, we specialize on the foreign-born population."
And as the foundation aspires to be a "ray of hope" towards a healthy, inclusive and harmonious community, they dream people will walk away from the kite festival feeling unified and empowered.
That's something Janae Smith, owner of Yum Yum's Gourmet Popcorn and Gourmet Lemonade Stand, agrees with, "...unity, diversity and, of course, inclusion is always a plus. And so it's really neat even just seeing the vast different kind of kites, the animals, the different shapes and prisms and things...I can definitely see the representation and where they were going with their mission."
AshaKiran's 24-hour Crisis Hotline is 800-793-3010, where you'll receive free, confidential help, available in 45+ languages.