North Fulton Community Charities Delivers Supplies, Smiles

The Back to School Health and Wellness Fair, sponsored by North Fulton Community Charities, brought out hundreds of North Fulton families for some free fun and school supplies on Saturday morning.

At first glance, the jumping castles, games, free prizes and appetizing food made it look like a small carnival had come to town and set up tents in the North Fulton Community Charities parking lot. But one look past the fair confirmed the main attraction was definitely school supplies.

A long line of families waited patiently to choose backpacks full of school supplies. The line snaked around several caution cones and almost went from the building entrance to the road.

While waiting, families could partake in anything the fair offered: from free samples of Panda Express to icy snow cones and colorful balloon animals. Tented booths were set up back-to-back filling the parking lot and dozens of volunteers did their part to make sure everyone had a great time. At the Health Fair, children could get their blood pressures tested, try their hips at a hula hoop contest and learn about the basic food groups.

And that was just in the parking lot.

Inside the building, the smiles of eager volunteers spread to the faces of the children as they carefully claimed their favorite backpack from amongst several tables full. The children would try different backpacks on until they found one that fit perfectly or had their favorite cartoon character on it.

With their perfect match in hand they would then walk over to the next section of volunteers, who handed out plastic bags full of school supplies and warm wishes for a happy and successful school year.Not being able to wait a moment longer, once they reached the end of the line, dozens of children sifted through their new backpacks like they were opening a present on Christmas morning.

Every child left the Back to School Fair with a full stomach, a full smile and, of course, a full backpack.

Eden Purdy, NFCC's program director, released this information about how many were served by the fair:

• Total number of families: 598
• Total number of backpacks given out: 1370
• Total number of individuals who attended the event: over 2,000
• Total number of Exhibitors: 24
• Total number of Volunteers: Over 350
• Total number of happy faces: "Too many to count!"

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