National Health Center Week || August 6th - 12th
The National Association of Community Health Centers sponsors National Health Center Week and encourages communities to celebrate to help increase awareness of the 1,400 + community health centers in the United States. Community health is filled with committed, passionate community members and supports who make it possible to provide quality, comprehensive health care and serve the underserved.
"Community Health Centers serve as a beacon of strength, services, and care in their communities." - National Health Center Week
Community Celebration
Sunshine Community Health Center is celebrating and honoring National Health Center Week (August 6th - 12th) with a Community Celebration at our Talkeetna Clinic on August 12th from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
We invite all of our Northern Valley Community Members from Petersville, Trapper Creek, Sunshine, Talkeetna, Caswell, Willow, and parts of Houston to join us on this day for family fun, music, food, activities, and more.
We want this event to include our organizational partners and highlight the talented business owners who make up our communities. If you want to support the celebration in any way please email Sunshine Community Health Center's Community Relations Manager, Sierra Winter at ssmith@sunshineclinic.org.
Food & Beverage
We are looking for a minimum of two food trucks to feed community members throughout the day. Vendors are welcome to sell their products at their normal pricing but in the spirit of community health and serving the underserved, we encourage you to offer a discounted price for this event if possible. Please note that Sunshine Community Health Center is a smoke-free and alcohol-free facility. We cannot host alcohol, tobacco, and/or marijuana distributors at this community event and cannot permit any use of these substances on the property. Thank you for your understanding and promotion of healthier communities. Space will be filled on a first come first serve basis.
Song & Dance
We have reached out to some local musicians to help fill the air with music from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM but we need your help. If you know anyone that would be willing to play music for an hour to fill some of the time please let us know. We have our fingers crossed that Larry Zarella and his family will be able to join us and thank him for his continued compassion for our communities.
Exhibitors
We have reached out to organizations like WIC, the food pantry, Northbound Fitness, and others that serve our communities. We want this fun community celebration to also be an opportunity to learn what resources are available and how our organizational partners can help you live a healthy life. Exhibitors will be provided a 10x10 space and will be asked to bring their own tables, chairs, and canopy tents. We encourage exhibitors to have a fun game or activity at their booth. We will not provide electricity and we’d rather not have generators so we can hear the music but if you cannot provide your service without one of these two, please let us know and we can try to accommodate you.
Vendors
We also want to invite local artisans and vendors to set up a booth and sell their products. This is not limited to healthcare services, and we want to extend our invitation to as many exhibitors as possible. Sunshine Community Health Center is a federally funded facility, and we are committed to accessible, proactive, quality health care, promoting community wellness through outreach and education. If you can, we are asking our vendors to provide our community members with a discount during the event, but we understand if you cannot. We appreciate your ability to serve our communities. In order to sell products on our properties you must have a valid business license and sales tax ID to support your sales.
Activities & Games
Bouncy House
We want to start by thanking our very own board member, Mary Gunderson, for her donation to help rent a fun bouncy house and slide for the event.
Face Paint
We also are hoping to have a face paint and/or glitter booth and will supply the materials if we can get volunteers to do the artwork.
Silent Auction
Our Board of Directors is coordinating a silent auction of local artwork to raise money for the Su-Valley Scholarship funds. If you have a piece of art you would like to donate please contact Mary Gunderson at mgunderson@sunshineclinic.org or Sierra Winter at ssmith@sunshineclinic.org - we are excited to grow the scholarship funds to help future generations.
Fruit & Veggie Walk
If you have ever participated in a cake walk you are already one step ahead in our fruit and veggie walk. We are looking for donations to create beautiful fruit and veggie baskets that will help address food security in a fun and healthy way. Financial donations can be made to Sunshine Community Health Center directly (click here) and if you want to donate fresh items from your garden closer to the celebration date please email Sierra Winter at ssmith@sunshineclinic.org.
Sun Run
We are currently in discussions with community partners and our insurance provider to see if we can host a Sun Run 5K starting at our Talkeetna Clinic. More information to come once we learn about the requirements of hosting a run. If you have information or you've been a part of an organized run in the past we'd appreciate any information you might have. Please contact Sierra Winter at ssmith@sunshineclinic.org.
Call for Community
In summary, we want this celebration to be something worth attending and we need your help to bring our ideas to life. If you have an idea to share or want to volunteer to make the event more exciting please reach out to Sierra Winter at ssmith@sunshineclinic.org.
We look forward to celebrating with you. Sunshine Community Health Center
1-907-376-2273 (CARE) www.sunshineclinic.org Facebook: @sunshinehealthcenter
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