By Brett Milam, Community Relations Associate
bmilam@networkforhope.org.
Network for Hope gave away free school supplies, bicycles, and provided health resources and services to the community on August 23 at its 5th Annual Live Healthy & Move Health and Wellness Fair.
More than 80 school supplies were given away to families in need and seven bicycles were freely raffled off in the city of Forest Park. Nearly 30 vendors joined Network for Hope to offer dental and vision screenings, blood pressure tests, CPR lessons, information about kidney health, bereavement services, and so much more.
“We’re grateful to everyone, including our partners and sponsors, who joined us in Forest Park for such a meaningful event centered around health and wellness for a community that needs our support,” Audrey Holtzman, Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager with Network for Hope, said.
The Health and Wellness Fair is also in recognition of August being National Minority Donor Awareness Month. This is a time where the organ, tissue, and eye donation community recognizes the historical reasons multicultural communities are distrustful or fearful of the medical system.
That’s why Network for Hope uses August, and every month, as an opportunity to create a positive culture around organ, tissue, and eye donation for diverse communities. Importantly, more than 106,000 people in the United States are waiting on a lifesaving organ transplant, and 60 percent of them are people of color.
Venita Turner, Director of Community Outreach for Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney, and heart transplant recipient, shared her transplant story with the community at the event.
“I’m just so thankful and grateful. I feel like a million bucks,” Turner said. “You really don’t know how good you feel until you’ve been sick for so long. This is the heart of a 29-year-old, so he’s busy.”
To learn more about Network for Hope, visit networkforhope.org.
Brighten my day article!