STOCKTON, Calif. — Neveah Avalos could barely hold in her excitement Thursday, hours before a ribbon was cut officially opening a splash pad in the plaza in front of the homeless shelter where the three-year-old and her mom live.
"I know they're going to have fun right here," said Neveah's mom, Angela Avalos.
Angela knows because she remembers going to splash pads as a kid too, before life took a turn toward homelessness.
Sept. 7 is the date that she'll never forget. It's the day she walked into the shelter at downtown Stockton's Gospel Center Rescue Mission and found help through the New Life Program.
"It's a good change in your life to do better with yourself," said Angela. "Especially for my daughter."
For the mission's CEO, David Midura, the goal is to change lives. It's a goal that takes more than providing shelter and food.
"We want to see long-lasting generational changes in people's lives," said Midura. "You have to kind of put yourself in somebody else's shoes to see what would I want if I was that child. What would I want if I was that mom or that dad?"
It was that question and an anonymous donor that brought the idea of opening a splash pad for the shelter's 30 to 40 kids to life.
"It took about two years," said Midura. "It started when COVID was still a little bit high so that kind of slowed everything down."
All that waiting led to the big moment at 2 p.m. Thursday, when shelter residents and community members cut the purple ribbon in front of the "Kings Kids Water Park." Shelter resident Bill Irons' seven-year-old son Alex was in the front row.
"We woke up this morning and that's the first thing he said: 'Dad, today's the day,'" said Bill. "It's pretty cool to see him actually open up and get in there and be able to play with it."
Now, Neveah and her friends-- like Alex-- can forget about everything else and just be kids.
"It's so fun," said Alex.
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