Children walked their families through the halls of Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday during its annual Fathers, Uncles, Dads, Grandpas, Everyone Day.
Better known as FUDGE. Day, children enrolled in the temple’s early childhood education program showed their school work and projects, while family members had a moment to stop and interact with each other. Starting at 9 a.m., families ventured to the parking lot at 10:30 a.m. for the trike-a-thon, where children raced each other on tricycles or scooters along a cone path.
Families also made donations to the temple’s parent council, which will go toward future children events, like the upcoming snow day on May 15.
Carol Bloom, director of early childhood education, said FUDGE Day has been an ongoing fixture at Congregation Beth Shalom for 21 years.
“In 21 years, we’ve been rained out once,” she said as she acknowledged the warmer, cloudless weather.
Parents and grandparents held up their smartphones as their children peddled past each other, with only a few tears shed from a few minor collisions.
Carolyn Veis’ son wheeled past the small cones, running each one over with the belief that he won points.
“He started that whole game, though,” said Steffanie Stelnick, another mother whose children goes to CBS.
“Yes he did, so there you go,” Veis replied. “He’s a leader.”
Veis and Stelnick both grew up in Santa Clarita and attended the synagogue when they were young.
“We’ve known each other for years, but it’s really fun now to get to see from a different angle as parents here,” Veis said. “The connections that we have with the parents here are really special already.”
Stelnick made sure FUDGE Day was marked down on the family calendar in anticipation for the trike-a-thon.
After the trike-a-thon, children lined up in Sisk Plaza to receive bags of homemade fudge. They then painted butterflies across the campus, from inside the classrooms to the plaza beside the Holocaust memorial sculpture.
