Winter Garden leader organizes annual water park takeover

Global Not Local organizer Wendell Coates Jr. brought more than 400 children, with 100 being from Winter Garden, to Aquatica Orlando for the third annual event.


More than 400 children from across Central Florida attended the third annual Aquatica Orlando water park takeover hosted by Global Not Local and other partnering organizations.
More than 400 children from across Central Florida attended the third annual Aquatica Orlando water park takeover hosted by Global Not Local and other partnering organizations.
Photo courtesy of Global Not Local
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Winter Garden leader Wendell Coates Jr., founder of Global Not Local, organized the third annual Aquatica Orlando water park takeover Wednesday, June 12.

More than 400 children from across Orlando, with 100 being from Winter Garden, attended the water park for a day filled with fellowship and fun. 

In addition to GNL, the event is in partnership with the West Orlando Jags and The Kingdom Church.

Coates said the event is important to him because of how important it is to every one of the children in the community and beyond.

"This has become the best day of the summer for this generation," he said. "These kids deal with so much on a daily basis from academics to sports and more. I wanted to create something for them just to be able to have fun."

Coates came up with the idea for GNL in 2019. When the pandemic hit in 2020, he had the opportunity to sit back, create and expand upon it.

What started off as a clothing brand has since then grown into a pinnacle of hope in the community. 

The organization’s mission is to inspire the youth globally to dream big without limitations and to look beyond their environment by motivating them to continuously reflect on elevation. 

For more information on GNL, email [email protected].

 

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Annabelle Sikes

News Editor Annabelle Sikes was born in Boca Raton and moved to Orlando in 2018 to attend the University of Central Florida. She graduated from UCF in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sociology. Her past journalism experiences include serving as a web producer at the Orlando Sentinel, a reporter at The Community Paper, managing editor for NSM Today, digital manager at Centric Magazine and as an intern for the Orlando Weekly.

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