Y-S-C United Way provides resources for community
Officials say this year’s event had 72 vendor booths
New to the area, Shelly Long of Yuba City said she was excited to find out more about what her new community has to offer while attending the ninth annual Community Resource Fair, hosted by the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way on Saturday.
“Being new to town its great to have all these resources in one place,” said Long. “Its so nice to be able to go to the different booths and talk one on one with people and ask questions that are specific to the
needs of my family.”
According to Bob Harlan, executive director of the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way, 72 booths lined the grass at Gauche Park for the event, all offering education information about services available within the community.
Harlan said there was a great turnout this year, with ten more booths in attendance then there was last year.
“There are lots of free or low-cost services for families here so make sure you check out all of the booths,” said Harlan.
In addition to the bounty of local resources, many of the exhibitors offered prizes, giveaways and activities.
For the kids, the Shady Creek booth brought paint supplies to the event while the Harmony Health booth had a coloring station set up. A mock grocery store and corn play table complete with tiny animals was set up at the Playzeum booth.
The Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way booth handed out passports – or a list of all the booths in attendance – to those that stopped by their booth. If you visited at least 15 booths and had each booth that you went to sign your passport before returning it to the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way booth, you were entered into a raffle. Prize drawings were held each half-hour for the duration of the event and multiple winners were chosen each time. According to Harlan, all of the raffle prizes were by exhibitors.
Fair attendees could also enjoy a free barbecue lunch that included a hot dog or hamburger, chips, water and fruit.
The Kiwanis Early Risers and Noon Club of Yuba City volunteered to cook at the event, grilling up 300 hot dogs and 500 hamburgers for the hungry crowd.
River Valley High School Key Club members and 20 individuals also came out to lend a hand and volunteer their time at the event.
Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris was on-site as well to answer questions and chat with members of the community about concerns.
Firefighters from the Yuba City Fire Department brought their engine out for kids to admire. They chatted with kids and answered their questions, handing out plastic firefighter helmets. At 12:30 p.m. the firefighters kicked off the Kids Fun Run with a siren from the fire engine. One fireman even participated in the race, joining the dozens of children that ran the course around Gauche Park.
The fair remains totally free to the public because generous sponsors offset the overhead cost of the event, said Harlan.
“Food is the main cost of the event,” said Harlan. “This year we spent $1,500 on the hot dogs and hamburgers to feed an estimated 500 people.”
This year’s sponsors included Sutter Health, the Sutter County Children and Families Commission, Ridgeline Pediatric Day Health and Respite Services, Nivano Physicians, Freedom Health and Hospice Services Inc., Allstate Insurance – True Blue and Anthem Blue Cross.
“I have learned about a lot of things that I didn’t know where offered in this community,” said Walter Downing, who brought his family of five out to the event for the first time.