Children's health, safety fair planned

Among those attending a planning meeting for a children's health fair include from left in front: Maribel Arredondo, Glenna Martin, Eva Jones and Ruth Mather; in back, Laila McAlister, Toni Meador, Cindy Fulton, Louraiseal McDonald, Judy Garner, Kelly Garner and Marla Kozlovsky.

A planning session for a children's health and safety fair was held during the Rusk Kiwanis Club's Sept. 25 meeting in Rusk. The fair is planned for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, at the Rusk Civic Center. The come and go event will cater to children age 10 and younger.

Cindy Fulton, Rusk ISD nurse, discussed the school's project CATCH Family Fun Night, a state-mandated program to increase family awareness of nutritional values. The program is designed to coordinate with other community health programs.

The booth of the CATCH program will feature snacks, games, posters and recipes designed to reinforce messages around CATCH the objectives. The CATCH nutritional program is for children in grades three through five. The physical portion of the program will be designed for children through the eighth grade.

Plans call for a physical education class to learn a dance and present it at the fair. Parents will be encouraged to become involved.

The fair's theme will be decided at a future meeting. Several suggestions were made at the Sept. 25 meeting.

Plans include popcorn, displays and talks on nutrition, inspection of the fire truck and fire safety, identification cards for children, bike safety, car seat safety, eye and physical health information, education on immunization, balloons and animal characters.

There will be prizes of all sorts. Some will be given at the booths and others in drawings throughout the day.

The next meeting is planned for noon Tuesday, Oct. 23 at the Southern Cherokee Federal Credit Union.