The Southwest Santa Rosa community will come together to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez at the sixth annual Cesar Chavez Health Fair at Roseland Elementary School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 19. The free public fair focuses on the health of area families with over 50 health care providers offering free screenings and vital health information.
Sonoma SERVES, the AmeriCorps program at Sonoma State University, is working with a broad community coalition including the Roseland Elementary School District, the Community Action Partnership, Kaiser Permanente, and the Latino Service Providers to produce an event that is expected to draw over 1,000 children and families.
The fair offers bilingual health information, vision, hearing, and anemia screenings, and diabetes and blood pressure testing. A popular dental clinic for children and a farmer's market will also be offered as well as dancing, salsa music, puppet shows, bike rodeo, games for the family, and a free nutritious lunch.
The fair showcases service-learning projects that children from local schools have completed. AmeriCorps members and community volunteers will serve the southwest Santa Rosa area by cleaning the local creek and removing graffiti.
According to a recent report from the Children's Health Alliance Coalition, approximately 7% of children in Sonoma County are uninsured and many of these children live in southwest Santa Rosa. Additionally, over two thirds of children are eligible for public health insurance but have not signed up. At the March 19 health fair, participants will have access to sign up for free and low-cost insurance for their entire family.
Julie McClure of Sonoma SERVES says the Cesar Chavez health fair and celebration embodies the ideals of Cesar Chavez himself who believed that "we can choose to use our lives for others to bring about a better and more just world for our children."
The event marks the sixth year of the California state holiday known as the Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning.
SSU's Sonoma SERVES works with students and families in the Roseland, Wright, and Bellevue school districts in Santa Rosa. Programs include daytime one-on-one tutoring sessions, after school programs that are educational and fun, and family programs that offer parents free ESL, GED, and parenting classes while children receive academic support.
