A guest post from Emily Troll:

Have you heard? Next Monday, the new CHC building in Middletown will be opening its doors! And as part of the CHC’s focus on wellness, the waiting rooms will be abuzz with family-friendly activities each day Mon-Thurs from 11am-12pm.

The CHC is proud to receive the support of community volunteers who will be leading a variety of workshops including yoga, dance workouts, creative snack-making, storytimes, and even smoothies! Some volunteers are from a local business, like Megan and Bill from Raw Youniverse, a smoothie-centered food philosophy who you may recognize from the North End Farmers Market last summer. Or Amy Swanson, a nutritionist who is in the early stages of starting up her own “Guilt Free Foods” business.

Healthy food is just one of the healthy habits the CHC hopes to encourage! CHC is a member of Reach out and Read, a program that encourages reading aloud through health centers. And we are lucky enough to have reading volunteers who visit our Family Wellness programs as well, most notable Lois Kennedy from Russell Library. Commonly known as “Nana Goose,” Lois will be joining us for read-aloud story time in the waiting rooms! She’ll be collaborating with the Family Resource Center from Macdonough on a snacks and stories program as well.

Movement and dance are equally important, and several of our workshops will feature instructors from Vinnie’s Jump and Jive, another program of the CHC which offers dance and yoga classes right on Main Street. Lynn Agnew, known mainly for her enthusiastic tap teaching, will be bringing an energetic and joyful dance workout for all ages! And Jeff Hush will represent yoga with a workshop for all ages. Another CHC program, Recess Rocks, sends us even more exciting activities. Miss Kim will be leading several creative snack-making workshops, using fruits and veggies in fun ways to make healthy and delicious snacks. And Miss Lisa will visit us with a dance workshop as well.

The programs are open to anyone and everyone! We are thrilled to be bringing these local talents in to share their passions with us. We look forward to welcoming patients to the new space and sharing some of our favorite wellness activities.

(For more details, please see our series of Facebook events)