Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  You could get just about anything you needed at the Nederland Community Center Saturday morning.

Needed to have a blood workup, see if your cholesterol levels have gone up or down? You got it.

Need some extra cash for a trip to B & F? You got it.

How about a flu shot, a bag of groceries, help with Medicare, a break in heating costs?  A free ear acupuncture session, a visit to the free clothing store and the free food pantry?

It was all there, spread throughout the upper level of the NCC, open to assist people with allof the resources available to mountain residents. A one-stop health, education, food and welfare shop.

Usually at this time of  year the Emergency Family Assistance Association delivers enough food per household to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner. It also gave away gift cards and assistance with signing up for goods and services available to residents.

Teamed with the 9Health Fair, human services agencies offered assistance with many facets of their client's lives.

Janette Taylor, one of the 9Health Fair organizers, says this year's event was more of a mini-fair. The plan is to coordinate the two events to be held in the fall.

Usually the health fair is offered in April and has run into many weather-related issues. It is also a good chance for locals to get free flu shots before the flu season hits instead of at the end of the season.

Next year, the health fair and the human services fair will be joining forces again in the fall. It is the best deal in town.

(Published in the November 17, 2016 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)