CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa Head Start location on West Edney Ave. celebrated October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month with a children’s parade.
Children from the West Edney Ave. location and the Laurel Hill location dressed in pink to celebrate breast cancer awareness on Friday morning.
PHOTOS: See 12 photos from the Okaloosa Head Start Breast Cancer Awareness Parade>>
In addition to wearing pink, the children carried homemade banners and pink streamers around the parade route in the nearby neighborhood.
Debi Riley-Broadnax, the interim executive director of Okaloosa Head Start – the early childhood education program, said the children’s involvement with the parade could benefit in the future.
“Community involvement is very important at a young age,” she said. “We need to expose our children to it at an early age.”
Head Start officials at the West Edney location said staff usually has the children parade around the Head Start facility. This year, officers from Crestview Police Department escorted the children with parents, teachers and staff around the nearby neighborhood.
Crestview resident Teresa O’Hara attended the parade with her four-year-old grandson, Layne Presley Phillips, a student at the school.
O’Hara, who is also a breast cancer survivor of 20 years, said she was proud to see the children's involvement.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “I love seeing everyone participate.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa Head Start spreads breast cancer awareness with children’s parade (PHOTOS, VIDEO)