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GoPack's Community Resources Fair is back again at the end of this month, following up on a 2022 idea that bloomed into a strong effort to show area residents they can have access to all types of resources for all types of needs and walks of life.
The event, to be held from 1-4 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Lafayette Hotel, is open to all residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley. There is no admission charge.
Last year's inaugural event had more than 30 organizations gather, including groups as different from each other as the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County and the O'Neill Center, the Marietta Community Foundation and the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Mid-Ohio Valley.
This year has more than 40 group tables scheduled to date, but there will be more than the display tables, according to GoPacks founder and director Heather Warner.
"We're increasing events, classes and workshops," she said. "Lots of demonstrations. The Changed Plate and the YMCA, for example. And we'll have door prizes this year."
GoPacks is an eight-year-old nonprofit group with the goal of fighting food insecurity. It serves all Marietta City Schools and Washington County Career Center with various combinations of "healthy bags," snacks and meal bundles. Marietta High School and WCCC have GoPack stores that are available to all in the student bodies, she said.
"We're not a handout group," Warner explained. "Things are given and taken. And what we're trying to emphasize with this community resources fair is that this is for all types of people, all types of income levels and needs: children, adults, veterans, families, individuals. This isn't just for those in greatest need only. This is something that almost anyone could go in and find something that they perhaps didn't know even existed, or that they can use the services."
The community resources fair is sponsored by Washington State Community College, iHeart Radio and The Marietta Times.