Winter Garden leader organizes annual water park takeover

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].