By Dylan Deprey
The Milwaukee Courier
Resources, resources everywhere but some are hard to find. Milwaukee has had financial fairs, health fairs and job fairs but few under the same roof.
WNOV 860 The Voice has taken the typical resource fair one step further. The 3rd annual Community Resource Fair will unite around 26 sponsors that provide everything from health, financial, medical and family resources to the city of Milwaukee.
The event will take place Saturday May 21 at the Mary Ryan Boys and Girls Club from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
WNOV Sales manager, Douglas Kelley is passionate in spreading along the knowledge of programs available in the community.
He witnessed firsthand how important utilizing Milwaukee’s multitude of resources was by watching his sister and late mother having gone through medical situations with the assistance of resources.
“Everyone should come to know what is available,” Kelley said. “It is huge. You don’t know what you don’t know, until you find it out.”
Kelley listed everything from banks tackling financial questions to the American Cancer Society and Milwaukee Health Services providing health service information.
He noted how some businesses and organizations do not have the finances and marketing to connect with people.
They instead gravitate towards open events like the Community Resource Fair as an option to reach out to the community.
“It gives them a chance to come into the community and talk to people and pass their message on,” Kelley said.
“The biggest difference about this is a lot of the corporations and organizations don’t get a lot of opportunities to interact with our listeners,” Kelley said.
Kelley explained the informational game of telephone that can occur while having multiple resources in the same building.
“Say your grandmother comes and finds out some information for her family but also some information for her church. It becomes a ripple effect and the information is spread throughout the community,” Kelley said.
While providing resources is the number one goal of the event, the term “fair” is not used lightly. Caricature drawings and animal balloons are just the start of the festivities.
There will be a 3-on-3 tournament, free food and local entertainment including local musicians: The Lyons of Judah, solo artist Kari Lyons and Journey through the Wilderness will perform as well as an appearance by Mom the Clown.
Another addition to this years’ event is that in a traditional WNOV fashion, $86 will be given away every hour and the grand prize of $860 will be given away at the end of the event.
Kelley stressed that this was a family event to spread knowledge throughout the community.
“This is an opportunity to go to all the different organizations and see what resources what they offer to the community and see how they can obtain those,” Kelley said.
