NORTHFORK, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – Thursday evening, the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia (CHS) Forever Families Resource Center in Northfork joined with various community partners to host a Summer Blowout Bash for the children and families of McDowell County.
Tina Willaims, a social worker at the Northfork Forever Families Center who headed up the event, said she wanted to find a way to get the community together after losing a year to the pandemic.
“There’s a dark cloud that hangs over our county in so many different ways. There are a lot of negative things in so many different ways,” she said. “I wanted to do something to try and brighten up and to try and do something for the kids and get people together.”
In addition to celebrating togetherness, Williams also wanted to use Thursday as an opportunity to educate people on the services CHS offers.
“We wanted to let the area and residents know what we have here and what services we have to offer such as our WECAN program, counseling ages three to 17, our Healthy Grandfamilies program and the resource center.”
Jenna Stowers, a child and adolescent therapist for Mercer and McDowell County, explained the importance of connecting with the community and having open communication about what CHS is doing for southern West Virginia.
“Post COVID, it’s been really difficult to engage the community, and where it’s already a really spaced out, rural area, it’s difficult to obtain engagement anyway and so just providing a lot of positive engagement for the kiddos and for families and letting them know what is going on down here is what we are about. It’s definitely important to make sure that your presence is known and to be out and active in the community…”
Thursday’s Summer Blowout was full of fun games, a temporary tattoo shop, BINGO, giveaways, prizes and more.
All of the event’s food, according to Williams, was donated by local business owners, and various community partners who were in attendance provided games and toys. Every child that attended the event left with something, whether it was a toy brought by another organization or a prize from winning a game.
CHS WECAN Mentoring Coordinator Becky Brown said at least 10 partner organizations helped with the Summer Blowout in some way. These partners included Aetna, WV Birth to Three, SAFE, STEP, Head Start, Reconnect McDowell, Healthy Grandfamilies, Ignite Hope, Save the Children and Coalfield CAP.
“Pulling off an event this large is really difficult unless you have your support of community partners,” Brown explained. “We just sort of come together to do things for the children and grand families of the community, so it’s really important.”
While the event was large, and was no easy feat to organize, Williams said it was worth every minute, hour and day of planning.
“Everyone has pitched in to make this a success. Just for children and families to intermingle and get together- that was my motivation. That is what made this worthwhile.”
CHS Regional Director Marilyn Pearce estimates that close to 200 McDowell residents attended the Summer Blowout Bash.
“I am very excited,” Pearce said of the turnout. “The ladies down here have been wanting to do this now for almost a year. The fact that they have continued to make such an impact in the community during the pandemic- it’s been wonderful.”
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