Community's Health a Priority at Inaugural Resource Fair

Colton High School was peppered with vendors eager to share their information and resources with the community - and that's what they were able to do for over 200 people on Saturday during the Colton Joint Unified School District's inaugural Mental and Physical Health Awareness Fair. Organized by the CJUSD Community Cabinet’s Physical and Mental Health Awareness Committee, last weekend's fair sought to put families in touch with information about various services available in the area to promote better physical and mental well-being, district officials shared. Saturday's event was the culmination of several months of work, planning having begun in September. The district's Community Cabinet, of which the committee who planned the event is a part, formed in 2013 with the goal of uniting business, labor, government, education and community services together to support schools and students. "We are so grateful for the dedicated assistance and collaboration we have from so many community partners," shared Katie Orloff, a district spokesperson. Scott Boggs, co-chair of the Mental and Physical Health Awareness committee who coordinated the event, felt the district's goal in providing this information was met. "Our goal was to bring information and resources to our community/parents/students. I think we definitely reached that goal given the great turnout from both vendors and the community," Boggs said. Vendors shared information on a variety of community services promoting physical health and mental awareness, including military branch representatives, medical organizations like Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, local dentists, child care resources, and more. "There were many different types of resources present and I have no doubt that everyone was able to find something they can benefit from," Boggs said, indicating that resource events such as the one held Saturday are important to hold for the community, helping create a hub of information for busy parents and students. "The connection between the vendors services and resources and the community is hard to make without these types of events. Parents often don’t have time to seek them out – so to provide one event where they can make contact with many of them is invaluable." The events are important enough, shared Boggs, that the hope is to continue the resource fair and turn it into an annual event. "In the end we had many great vendors agree to participate – and as you can see from the turnout they didn’t disappoint. The Community Cabinet and their connection to the Alliance for Education provides for a great pool of resources with which to draw from. It was invaluable in the creation of an event such as this," Boggs said.