From fair to festivals, it's busy time for Richland County Children Services

July 30-Aug. 1, 2010

The arrival of August may mean summer is winding down to many. But community activity is just heating up for Richland County Children Services.

The 126-year-old child protective services agency will take part in three major public events in the next several weeks in Mansfield, Lexington and Bellville.

“These kinds of events are great ways for our agency and our staffers to interact with the public in a positive venue,” said Carl Hunnell, the agency’s communications supervisor. “We hope many, many people stop by, snag some popcorn and visit with us for a few minutes at all three of these events.”

It all starts Aug. 8-14 when the agency (and its popular popcorn popper) returns to the 2010 Richland County Fair. Agency employees will staff the booth inside air-conditioned Fairhaven Hall from noon to 10 p.m. each day, handing out free (yes, free!) popcorn to anyone who stops by.

“We will also answer questions and offer information about various agency programs, including foster care and adoption, Choose Your Partner Carefully and all of the ongoing services Children Services provides to children and families around Richland County,” Hunnell said.

On any given day, our agency is working with more than 600 families and more than 1,300 local children on an ongoing basis.

“People hear a lot about investigations the agency does into child abuse and neglect,” Hunnell said. “People also know about our foster care and adoption programs. But not nearly enough people know about the ongoing services we provide aimed at making families stronger and keeping children safe inside their own homes.”

A few days after the fair ends, our popcorn popper and staff members will head down to Lexington for the popular 5-day Blueberry Festival. We will offer popcorn and information, just as we did at the county fair.

As a major sponsor of the festival, our agency gets usage of a covered pavilion at the Blueberry Festival. We are helping the Lexington Soccer Association with its “Blueberry 3v3” soccer tournament by allowing them to use the pavilion as “home base” during the event. Teams will register there, check standings, receive trophies, etc. as part of our efforts to aid young people participating in the event.

We then get a brief respite before traveling down Route 13 to Bellville for the annual Street Fair Sept. 15-18. We will again hand out popcorn, information and answer questions from those who stop by our booth.

Summer may indeed be winding down and thoughts of cooler weather are just ahead. But community activity for Richland County Children Services is just warming up.

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Richland County Children Services has an opening for a full-time Social Worker. Click here for details.

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Check our 2010 Shelby SummerFest photo gallery.

Check our 2010 Future Stars Golf Program gallery.

Check our 2010 Miss Ohio parade photo gallery.

Check our annual Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner photo gallery.

Visit our 24-hour Swim/Bike/Run photo gallery.

Visit our Pinwheels for Prevention photo gallery.

Visit our St. Peter's balloon launch for child abuse prevention photo gallery.