How It All Went Down...

Yesterday's Job/Health Fair started off--and ended--much more smoothly than expected. Z, S, and I departed from our hotel together and met up with J at Sycamore Park Community Center about 9:40 AM to hang up signs at the front of the center, inside the gym, and along Murray. We had neglected to bring our own duct tape, so we borrowed a silver-gray roll from the community center to tape our poster to a telephone pole. It did not survive the duration of the Job/Health Fair. Duct tape stinks.

Close to 11 AM, Z and I were struck with the idea of going to the Copy Center near Big K-Mart and printing more mini-flyers to post on car windshields and hand to people in the streets of Downtown. Well, we ended up printing 240 copies, passing them out to people in the parking lot of Big K-Mart and posting it on random cars' windshields. We then targeted Safeway and did the same, and next Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart, however, a security guard drove up in his Jeep to scold me for breaking a "Wal-Mart law": no flyer posting in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I was unable to escape before he drove up to me, as my Ninja skills are a little out-of-practice.

But lucky us: we had passed out most of the flyers by the time I was caught.

Z and I proceeded back to the community center, where J and S were holding down the fort. J told us that a spurt of adult customers had come and gone shortly before we arrived, which was good news. But alas, that was the only spurt we were going to get that day. Those who came in afterwards were elementary and middle school-aged kids who really had no interest in Medicaid/Medicare, the BA/MD Program, or gym memberships. Sigh. So many cool give-aways neglected. Ah, well.

We feel pretty badly looking back now, since throughout the event, we passed out water, Sun Chips, and trail mix granola bars to all of our nineteen vendors--except the EMT giving Ambulance Tours outside. OMG! In the burning hot sun he suffered, explaining the many intricacies of Ambulances' technological features and wearing long black pants the whole time...dehydrated.   :-(    We apologized profusely afterward, but he was in good spirits and had his own H2O.

Remember: Water = Life.  Drink Life.

Have it with you everywhere you go.

That's both practical and philosophical advice, mind you.

The Job/Health Fair ended early, in an effort to avoid wasting vendors' valuable time, but no one seemed all too disappointed. They knew we had worked hard to organize it, and apparently it's a HUGE challenge to encourage the public to attend a free and educational event, filled with spectacular prizes and full-of-potential opportunities for both health and employment.

The four of us had lunch at The Deli Factory, which was surprisingly tasty. The artwork on the walls was awesome. One painting in particular caught my eye. It speaks to me, stirs me:  The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton. 

You know you're tempted to look it up now. Do it.