Saturday in Hubbard Park

The blog post below was written by Alex Burford, an AmeriCorps member at Community Health Center, Inc., who serves widely within our School Based Health Centers. He also was a major event contributor for both the race for Mental Health Awareness and the Healthy Food Demo. The food demo was organized and executed with flawless effort by the AmeriCorps members who provided amazing (and healthy) food for many happy people in Hubbard Park on Saturday May 3…

On Saturday May 3, Community Health Center hosted its race for Mental Health Awareness at Hubbard Park in Meriden. Runners saw many expansions in the 2^nd year, including a 10K for those willing to make the climb to Castle Craig, a health fair featuring organizations such as cross fit, and a series of healthy food demonstrations.  The event also consisted of a 5K, DJ, access to Hubbard Park’s play space, and a bounce house.

175 runners participated in the 5K and 10K, raising over $7,000 for the United Way. Funds will be used to offer trainings on the signs and symptoms of mental health crisis to professionals across Connecticut. It is the Community Health Center’s belief that these trainings are an imperative prevention tool that should be available to all professionals from police officers to managerial positions to teachers.

In addition to addressing mental health awareness, the race also featured a series of food demos this year poised to show runners that cooking healthy, delicious food at home can be both affordable and easy. Free samples of six different dishes were offered alongside a booklet listing the recipes, nutritional information, and estimated cost for a family of five. On average, a serving of any of the dishes cost $1.00 to make at home. Recipes cooked included tuna pasta salad, chilaquilles casserole, lentil sloppy joes, grilled vegetable skewers, fruit smoothies, and fruit parfaits.

The food demo event was organized by members of the 2013-2014 Community Health Center HealthCorps Team. It would not have been possible without generous food donations from C-Town and ShopRite of Wallingford or Kashia Caves and the My City Kitchen team for making smoothies and parfaits.

Download & print the event recipe booklet ! Share with friends and family!