Carnival a success

Dear editor:

Ouachita Children’s Center provides emergency shelter and support services for youths in crisis. We are incredibly grateful to our community for supporting our Backto-School Carnival held at the Hot Springs Airport on Aug. 26. Close to 900 people turned out to enjoy the day and celebrate healthy and safe choices!

The carnival was made possible by a DHS Prevention Services “Partnership for Success” grant administered by MidSOUTH UALR. Our message was and is clear: this community is determined to stand against misuse of prescription medications — particularly opioids — and underage drinking. During the carnival, we distributed 180 medication lockboxes — which means 180 Garland County families can now protect children from accessing dangerous drugs. The lockboxes, as well as our “NOPE.” shirts and wristbands, were all made possible by this grant.

We cannot say enough good things about working with the city of Hot Springs and our airport, who made it easy to bring our community together on such a grand scale. An army of volunteers — including OCC staff, National Park College Faculty Senate, Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, and Hot Springs Junior Academy Beta Club — worked tirelessly both before, during and after the carnival, demonstrating once again what a fantastic community we have.

As they do for so many other community events, Teen Challenge of Arkansas showed up with incredible energy and generous enthusiasm to help with set up, traffic control and clean up. Hot Springs Village Walmart and Malvern Avenue Walmart provided gift cards and Resort TV Cable sponsorship made it possible to give away snow cones! Arkansas Auto and Truck’s two monster trucks were a big hit, as was juggler Justin Chastant and Elvis, aka Larry Wilson from Hot Springs Village. Over 35 area organizations and agencies participated, showcasing the heroic work they do every day to enrich our county and care for people. All in all, it was a beautiful day when we came together to celebrate healthy, safe choices for our families.

We at OCC are profoundly grateful to be part of such a supportive community. Sallie Culbreth Community relations director Ouachita Children’s Center