A Day Made Bright: Gridley Unified Celebrates Día del Niño 

What a community-organized celebration reveals about what school can look and feel like. 

On April 30, 2026, families gathered at McKinley School in Gridley for an evening that had everything: bikes, scooters, face painting, prizes, a piñata, food, and the kind of joyful noise that signals something real is happening at a school site. The occasion was Día del Niño, the international Day of the Child, and the event honored students from both McKinley and Wilson schools.

The celebration ran from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. and drew hundreds of community members across generations. Looking at the crowd gathered on the blacktop, it was clear this was not a school event families felt obligated to attend. They came because they felt it was theirs.

“You could truly see the happiness of the children and the support from the community.” — Marisol Valdez, parent and volunteer

 

Events like this one do not happen without sustained relationship-building. The Día del Niño celebration was organized by families and volunteers who helped plan activities, decorations, and games for children. One volunteer, Yesenia Huerta, described the experience in Spanish: the nervousness of organizing, the work it took, and then the sight of children’s smiles making all of it worthwhile. “Ver las sonrisas y saber que los niños disfrutaron me hace feliz haber formado parte del evento.” Seeing the smiles and knowing the children had a good time made her glad to have been part of it.

What Marisol and Yesenia describe points to something central to the community schools model: when families are not just invited but genuinely involved in shaping school experiences, the result feels different to everyone present. The event offered equal opportunity for every child to participate, regardless of background. That equity of experience, as Marisol noted, “make the event even more special.” 

Young People Showing Up for Each Other

The event also drew on a generation of student volunteers. Approximately thirty high school students and five junior high students helped set up, run games, and clean up after the event. They came from GHS Leadership, Interact Club/Link Crew, CJSF, and Voces. In the late afternoon heat, not one of them complained. A teacher on special assignment who helped coordinate the event put it simply: the kids’ smiles made every bit of it worthwhile. There is something worth naming here. When older students give their time to make a celebration meaningful for younger ones, that is community schools working at multiple levels at once. Student leadership, cross-school connection, and civic participation must be cultivated, event by event, year by year.

Staff Who Said Yes

Behind the scenes, the event relied on institutional support. Teachers, office staff, administrators, and the transportation department all played a role. The maintenance administrator described walking into the office to find his transportation team gathered around a pile of donated bicycle parts, fully absorbed in the task of assembling bikes for the children. Nobody asked whether it was in their job description. They just did it. 

“They said yes to all my requests. What melted my heart was that they happily helped and never complained.” — Community Schools Coordinator

That image, a transportation crew building bikes together before a school celebration, is one of the better illustrations of what a whole-school, whole-community approach actually looks like in practice. The community schools model asks institutions to orient around the needs of children and families. When the transportation department answers that call without hesitation, it signals a school culture that is united around a common vision. 

Community Support

DONORS WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

Walmart Oroville  ·  Grocery Outlet Gridley  ·  Safeway Gridley  ·  Savmor Foods Gridley  ·  Sam's Club Yuba City  ·  CVS Gridley  ·  Mercado Latino  ·  Continental Athletics  ·  Ben's Toilet  ·  Nachos Electric  ·  Squeaky Clean  ·  Honda Gridley  ·  Maria Topete State Farm Insurance  ·  Self Help Federal Credit Union  ·  Our Town Pizza  ·  Gridley Country Ford  ·  ACE Hardware  ·  Casa Lupe  ·  McDonald's  ·  Dr. Ndulue  ·  Back in Time Arcade  ·  Boardgame Knights  ·  Anthony's Balloons  ·  Maria Leyva  ·  Lupita Alejo  ·  Frutas Pachita  ·  Maria Zuniga Better Homes Realty  ·  Connie Ramos Notary Services  ·  Zack Alejo Equipment

 

That donor list also reflects a common vision, shared across a community. It spans national retailers and neighborhood vendors, insurance agents and food trucks, a notary and an equipment company. It is a cross-section of the local economy showing up for children. The breadth of that list reflects a community coordinator’s sustained outreach over time, not a single ask. Building that kind of trust is one of the less visible but most important functions of the community schools model.

For sites implementing the California Community Schools Partnership Program, Día del Niño offers a useful case study in family and community engagement as a driver of belonging. The event was bilingual, culturally grounded, and organized with families rather than for them. It demonstrated what is possible when school becomes a space where a community’s culture is not just acknowledged but celebrated. 

“We look forward to continuing to work together on future events for our families and children.” — Marisol Valdez

 

That forward-looking closing from Marisol, a mother who wrote to express gratitude for the event, is the one to hold onto. The celebration on April 30 was not a one-time performance. It was an expression of an ongoing relationship between a school and its community. That relationship, built intentionally and tended over time, is what community schools are for.