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By NATHAN HOWELL | Staff Writer 

PELHAM – Mental health resource organization Central Alabama Wellness is holding a free community health fair on June 12 that will provide a day of fun for families and offer mental health resources.

According to Prevention Director Zina Cartwell, Central Alabama Wellness partnered with Vineyard Family Services, Pelham Impact and Compact to directly address the needs of the local community, while providing a fun day of activities for families.

“This health fair has a community focus,” Cartwell explained. “These groups came together with the goal of addressing the mental wellness of the Pelham community. We all worked together to highlight resources that would have a direct positive impact on the residents of Pelham.”

The community health fair will have 25 different vendors from organizations that will provide information and resources directly to guests.

The fair will feature a live band, a DJ, food trucks, carnival-style games, interactive games and number of other things. Aside from the resources, Cartwell said that the organizations hope that the recreation aspect of the fair will help promote mental wellness at the event.

“We have something for the entire family to do,” Cartwell said. “We want to address mental wellness in every aspect whether it is physical, mental, emotional or psychological. We believe that this can create  and promote mental wellness just by being able to get out and enjoy your time with other people.”

Overall, the groups hope that a focus on the community will create an environment where people can feel comfortable coming together to recognize the importance of mental health.

“The biggest thing we are trying to accomplish with this is community collaboration,” Cartwell said. “When we were planning this, we wanted to listen to our local partners so that we could provide resources that were directly needed in the community.”

Central Alabama Wellness is a nonprofit organization that was previously known as Chilton Shelby Medical Mental Health. Since rebranding, they have been partnering with local groups to provide resources to the Chilton and Shelby County areas.

The fair will take place on the football field at the Pelham Recreation Center, located at 300 Ball Park Rd. More information about the event is available at Centralalabamawellness.org.