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Marquette County Community Resource Fair to be held ‘express style’

Upper Peninsula Health Plan staff and volunteers pose in front of the food truck table during the June 2019 Marquette County Community Resource Fair at Lakeview Arena's parking lot. This year's event will be "Express Style," with a drive-thru format where attendees will be highly encouraged to remain in their vehicles to maintain social distancing measures. (Photo courtesy of UPHP)

MARQUETTE — The Upper Peninsula Health Plan and Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions will host the second annual Marquette County Community Resource Fair “Express Style” from noon to 2 p.m. June 19 in the parking lot of Lakeview Arena in Marquette. The event is free and open to the public.

Though the event is scaled back from last year’s event, the outdoor drive-thru format still allows for the organization to bring resources to the community safely, UPHCS Assistant Director Janey Joffee said in an email.

“Now more than ever, our community needs access to an event like this to help them get connected to the resources they need to get back on their feet,” Joffee said. “We know that one of the biggest issues people are having right now is access to food, so having the mobile food truck present was a must.”

The Feeding America West Michigan Mobile Truck will be at the event and attendees will be able to drive through and pick up food. Volunteers will be handing out bags consisting of essential items and information about health and social services available to local communities.

“We’re looking forward to helping our community, especially now, when the need for something like this is even higher due to the pandemic,” she said. “And we’re just excited to still be able to offer it, even though it’s in a much more scaled-down format.”

During the event, attendees will remain in their vehicles as officials disseminate tote bags of informational handouts and some giveaways — including sports equipment like footballs and basketballs for children — from organizations throughout Marquette County. along with essential items such as thermometers, hand sanitizer and masks provided by Masks from Marquette, Joffee said.

All volunteers will be wearing masks and spaced out to help direct traffic and hand out items, she added.

Unlike last year’s event, where attendees were able to walk around and interact with one another as well as representatives from community-based organizations, this year’s drive-thru format will help ensure everyone’s health and safety, Joffee said.

While the drive-thru method is preferred, individuals may also walk through the event following proper social distancing guidelines, she said.

“We hope that it will help to connect Marquette County residents to services available to them through health and community-based organizations within our community,” Joffee said. “For a lot of the needs people have there are organizations out there to help, but they may be unaware of them. We’re hoping this event will bridge that gap.”

UPHP is accepting informational handouts and donations for the event from community-based and health care organizations interested in partaking in the two-hour event.

For organizations interested in participating, visit surveymonkey.com/r/65QCJY9 to register.

Registration is not required for individuals planning to attend the event.

Lakeview Arena is located at 401 E. Fair Ave. Marquette. Individuals are urged to enter into the Lakeview Arena parking lot from Pine Street and then exit the arena parking lot onto Fair Avenue.

Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is jjahfetson@miningjournal.net.

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