Eighth annual Community Resource Fair set for Saturday at market
Eight years ago, the Difference Makers of Hot Springs joined with Bearbra Coleman for the first Hot Springs Community Resource Fair, and now the event has far outgrown the Webb Community Center where it originated.
The eighth annual event will be held Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hot Springs Farmers & Artisans Market pavilion, 121 Orange St. Difference Makers will again be partnering with the Bearbra Coleman Back to School Bash and Samaritan’s Feet Ministry, which gave away over 500 pairs of shoes during last year’s event.
“My prior background before retiring and moving to Hot Springs, I worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and I was the outreach person, so I had a lot of contacts and state government as far as putting on resource fairs,” said the Difference Makers of Hot Springs’ president, the Rev. Willie
Wade Jr.
“So that came natural to me, too, when we started these events to reach out to my partners. The first few years, we had a lot of mobile units, you know, from across the state to converge, and just seeing those mobile units excited people want to come out to find out more about what’s going on,” he said.
Wade said that one of the reasons for the resource fair is to bring information to the people who need it most.
“I can have a storefront over here and say, ‘Hey, I’m selling Popsicles,’ but if I take my Popsicles and come to where you are and then pass them out, you know, I’m actually doing a couple of things,” he said. “I’m building the relationship, and I’m also providing a need. And that’s how we kind of look at our organization as what we do.”
Wade said that there are over 40 vendors who will be at Saturday’s event, including Sam’s Club, Allen Tillery, Walmart, Alliance Rubber, the city of Hot Springs and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
The keynote speaker for Saturday’s community resource fair will be Brian Gittens, the vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion for UAMS, and it will also feature entertainment from Fedett “Lady J” Johnson and Keishon “Ki Koy Ki” Hicks.
While there will be plenty of information on multiple topics at the event, Wade said that the main focus is protecting children from COVID-19.
“This year, we’re going to focus on the children,” he said. “We’re going to ask experts to just to come in and share information on why it’s important that the kids get the vaccination before they go back to school because, you know, if not, they become the number one carrier for bringing that back to the household. And, you know, we know a lot of people are reluctant to take the shot, but it shuts the whole house down when there’s an outbreak, you know, and hopefully, we won’t see that mimicked in the school system where they have to end up closing school again.”
The event will also feature its fifth class of Living Legends in Community Service/Achievements. This year’s class includes First Lutheran Church pastor the Rev. Jonathan Beyer, Petrella Bonner-Pollefeyt, Charles Butler, Ike Thomas and James “Duck” White. Robert “Bobby” Cornelius and John D. “Rock” Little will also be honored posthumously.