South Whittier School District along with The Community Resource Center, Think Together, The Education Foundation and other community health partners all hosted the annual Whittier Area Healthy Living and Resource Fair on Saturday, May 4, at Carmela Elementary.
The goal of the fair is to promote and provide resources for building a healthy community. There were many different booths that provided physical and mental health resources. Some of the vendors present were Los Angeles County Public Health Department, John Wesley Community Health, Whittier Community Hospital, The Whole Child, and Children’s Happy Teeth Dental just to name a few. The Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department-Norwalk Station was also present and provided free finger printing for children.
The Education Foundation also sold food, drinks, snacks, and had booths with a variety of games crafts and face painting. All proceeds from these funds will go directly back to the school district to continue providing after-school activities like folklorico, hip-hop, and other creative art programs.
Students involved in these after-school programs performed at the event. There were performances from each school in the district. Students performed a variety of folklorico dances, hip hop dances, and Graves Middle School band played a couple songs for attendees.
In addition to these performances there was an Art Exhibit that showcased the entries for the Freedom from Drugs art competition. There was also an Imaginarium Olympiad, which was an innovation and creativity competition, where students created a structure made out of recyclable materials whose purpose was to help the community live a healthy lifestyle. Attendees were able to vote for the winner of this competition and the students who took first place prize created a community garden out of their recyclable materials.