Community organizations come together for Wood County Family Resource Fair

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Legal Aid of West Virginia hosted a Family Resource Fair from 3:00-6:00 in the evening at the Big Sandy Superstore on Garfield Avenue on Thursday.

55 different organizations across the county set up booths and talked with members of the public about the services they offer.

Organizations attending the event included Westbrook Health Services, The Arc of the Mid-Ohio Valley, the Parkersburg Housing Authority, and the United Way, among many others.

Legal Aid of West Virginia Behavioral Health Advocate Tammy Ketchem said bringing all of these groups together makes it easy to share much-needed information with families in the community. “They don’t know what’s out there,” Ketchem said. “Basically after Covid, nobody knows anymore. That’s what this is, trying to get people aware.”

Ketchem said having many different organizations together sharing information about their services isn’t just good for families. It’s also good for service providers.

“One of the issues we find is a lot of us are doing the same things,” Ketchem said. “And we don’t know that other agencies are doing it. And one agency might be doing it better, or have more resources than another one does. So by being able to connect with other vendors, it gives us more information.”

Phoenix Bradley, a woman attending the resource fair, said it accomplished its goal of sharing information with the public.

“I have learned many different resources that I didn’t know about before,” Bradley said. “I’m really looking for daycare and after school programs. Boys and Girls Club I have learned about, and the YMCA.”

Bradley said she appreciated having access to so many different organizations all in one place.