Tevin Campbell, "Can We Talk". Still adding songs. Brian and I were asked to represent the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) at a health fair at Bert's Place in Eastern Market. We agreed. That's all the information I had initially. I did some research and discovered the health fair was a part of the Project Healthy Living (PHL) project. I found out this event goes on for several weeks at different locations in southeastern Michigan . The event provides health screenings and tests at a low cost. There are too many tests to list, but it is sure is comprehensive and included blood tests, dental tests, hearing and eye tests.
Cool Jerk. Lol. I immediately started chair dancing. "...cause they know I'm the king of the cool jerk". Our shift was 10AM to 1PM. Our plan was to get to Eastern Market early and have breakfast. Because breakfast at a Eastern Market means incredibly fresh food. :-) We arrived just before 9AM. Eastern Market was already busy. We scored a parking space about 1/2 block from Bert's. We then walked to Farmer's Restaurant on the south side of the sheds. After we ate, we headed back to Bert's. It was getting crowded. And it wasn't supposed to start until 10! Parking is impressive at Eastern Market on a regular Saturday. This was going get crowded!
We went in, registered as vendors and went to the vendor area. We passed several waiting areas for the attendees. There were about 30 tables for vendors. We found ours and set up shop. Vendors included Headstart, some churches, Blue Cross, several service organizations, Social Security and a massage station (!). This event was sponsored by Alpha Kappa Sorority and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. (I wore the wrong colors - lol). So there was a lot of pink and green (my AKAs) and lot of blue and white (Zetas). A continental breakfast was provided for all of the volunteers.
Steely Dan, "Deacon Blues". Nice and smooth. Once the doors opened, we had the public and vendors stop to ask questions. We didn't have the major swag that other vendors had to attract people, but NKFM did give us a bowl of candy. (We attracted our fair share of kids-lol). We let people know risk factors for kidney disease and gave them pamphlets. We also encouraged organ donation by registering with the Secretary of State and gave out pamphlets for that. We answered questions about finding more resources and passed out the appropriate handouts. Brian really got into it and was pushing the NKFM fun walk at the zoo. :)
Some friends stopped by. Ann liked all the information she reviewed and will pass it on to her church members. The lead social worker from my clinic came. She is a big promoter of prevention education...and my soror. And finally my friend from high school came (we were part of the a Fine Four-lol). She is a health care professional. She also has a niece who just received a new kidney. :) Brian's cousin, a dentist, was one of the volunteer medical professionals doing screenings. I also saw the daughter of one of my mom's oldest friends. :) She was a vendor volunteer.
The Dramatics, "Door To Your Heart". So in addition to the myriad of health screenings, people were fed. Lunch was served. Boxes of food were passed out to the participants (no, not the volunteers). I saw some of the contents of the boxes. I saw 2 gallons of milk, a pound of bacon, and a huge roast. Huge. And that's only what I saw. I have no idea what else was in the boxes. In addition, Little Caesars gave out medium pizzas, personal pizzas and crazy bread. And of course lots of bottles of water. And folks were getting the candy the vendors provided. :-)
Aerosmith, "Dream On". Steven Tyler. ;-) Finally, we had requests to attend other events to give out information on kidney disease prevention. I will pass that on to the NKFM and let them know Brian and I are available to volunteer again. We enjoyed it. As always, my mission is to make sure no one has to go through what I went through. And whatever it takes to avoid dialysis.
Photos of me and Brian, my social worker, and my high school friend ( both of us in blue and white - I am not a Zeta, but I do like the colors! Lol). Signing off with Vanessa Williams, "Dreamin'". I love her voice! Go Tigers!!!! (Just stay away from Tiger Stadium today! Lol)
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