URBANA — The Kingdom Connection Outreach Center is preparing for its Back-to-School Community Health Fair.
The event begins at noon on August 15 at the Kingdom Connection Outreach Center located at 1508 E. Colorado Ave. in Urbana. The organization partnered with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District to provide free physicals to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Dominique Clemons, public relations specialist at the center, said the fair started about two years ago.
Pastor Davita Bernard, overseer of Kingdom Connection Ministries, reached out to the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District to provide kids in the community with free physicals.
Clemons said they later expanded on that idea.
“We kind of piggybacked off of that and reached out to businesses, organizations, [to get] donations for supplies and toiletries to kind of fill up as the kids came through for their physicals,” she said.
Students will be able to stock up on school supplies such as backpacks, pencils and paper, and personal hygiene essentials such as deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes. The organization will also provide free haircuts and braiding services to students in attendance.
The fair will also bring back its youth basketball tournament, which will be coached by JaDawn Bryant and Hope Elam-Huett.
Bryant is the girls basketball coach at MacArthur High School in Decatur, and Elam-Huett is a WNBA player and Champaign native who is involved in community-related initiatives in the area.
“Let’s really make our youth feel like, you know, they’re really special, and let’s empower them by bringing in somebody who is equipped in this game,” Clemons said.
All communities across Champaign-Urbana are invited to attend the fair and she added that it is important to keep the event going to serve the community.
“We just want people to feel our love from our ministry.”