Healthy Family Expo provides fun with a purpose

LIMA — There was a flurry of activity at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center on Saturday. The Healthy Families Expo drew a large crowd of people from the area.

Josh Unterbrink from Activate Allen County said, “It’s about connecting the community with all the healthy resources that we have here in Lima and Allen County and also having a lot of fun.”

Kids were able to enjoy the bounce house, pictures with superheroes, face painting, balloon sculptures and animals. Parents and other adults were entertained by Stedic and the Groove. Families could consult with agencies offering various types of assistance.

Activate Allen County offers public health assistance to Allen County residents in the form of mental health and substance abuse counseling, personal wellness, maternal and infant health, and housing and public transportation.

Unterbrink shared that they wanted to have something for families where kids could have some fun but where families “could go to get their health needs met in our community via behavior, health, physical health, mental health and nutrition. We want people to realize there’s a lot of services for people here in our community.”

Area agencies in our community sometimes struggle to reach the people they are trying to serve. The Healthy Family Expo brings in a variety of people from the local population that don’t always make it into the buildings of the agencies offering help. It’s a fun time with a purpose.

Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409

Dean Brown
Dean Brown joined The Lima News in 2022 as a reporter. Prior to The Lima News, Brown was an English teacher in Allen County for 38 years, with stops at Perry, Shawnee, Spencerville and Heir Force Community School. So they figured he could throw a few sentences together about education and business in the area. An award-winning photographer, Brown likes watching old black and white movies, his dog, his wife and kids, and the four grandkids - not necessarily in that order. Reach him at [email protected] or 567-242-0409.