SALISBURY — After working with residents of the Zion Hills Apartments to learn their needs and wants, the F.A.C.T. organization partnered with organizations from throughout the community to host a health fair at the complex on Saturday, Sept. 14.

The event included a health fair, a back-to-school bash and a basketball skills camp. It was funded by Salisbury through the federal Byrne Criminal Justice Incentive grant, which the city received in order to fund programs throughout the West End community. F.A.C.T., which stands for families and communities together, received the grant to help with its focus on enhancing the lives of the residents of the Zion Hills community as well as surrounding communities by providing information on and connecting people with available services as well as sponsoring programs to educate and empower families, according to the city’s BCJI page online.

“F.A.C.T. does a great job of connecting with the community and you can see that with the number of tents and vendors we’ve got today. The intent is hopefully to provide the residents a connection with groups that they may not normally connect with. This is a good model for other communities, it works. I hope that we can connect with other communities, as it could work elsewhere,” said Rev. Robert Kelley, pastor with Moore’s Chapel AME Zion Church.

Organizations that participated in the health fair included Rowan County Public Health, Family Crisis Council, Community Care Clinic of Rowan County, the Psi Chi chapter of the Chi Eta Phi nursing sorority, International Center for Wellness, nursing sorority Lambda Psi Nu and Bread Riot.

Shirley Holt, one of the founders of F.A.C.T., said that the event was meant to encourage members of the community to interact with the organizations that could benefit them by “bringing this to them.” The health fair specifically was included because the organization believed that it would benefit everyone in the community and help provide resources that could be utilized universally. The organization had dealt with lower participation than hoped when hosting events at Livingstone College or other locations, and so brought the event into the complex itself, so people “can get out of bed and walk over,” said Holt.

“We wanted the residents to see what Salisbury has to offer them. These are things that they can reach out and get. We brought it down here today, but they can go to these various places in Salisbury and see what all they could benefit from,” said Rev. Mary Hardin, another one of the founders of F.A.C.T.

Nicole Troxler, the property manager for the complex, said that the health fair also came about as a result of constant conversation between her, the residents of the complex and F.A.C.T. about the needs of the people who lived there.

“We have a lot of single moms out here that are trying to make ends meet, so what I brought to the (F.A.C.T.) board (of directors) was helping change the community by bringing those resources out here. Just giving them a new light, seeing something different out here,” said Troxler.

Troxler listed out some of the needs that residents had asked for, which included parenting and hygiene classes, job resources, assistance with clothing and furniture and literacy camps.

“This is what the residents want to see, somebody that cares. I don’t just treat being a property manager as a job where I collect rent. I care about these residents and try to get outside resources to come out here and make a difference, especially for the kids so they can see something different,” said Troxler.

Also included during the event was a back-to-school bash, which included a bounce house, games for the kids and food for the kids including hotdogs, hamburgers, fruit cups and snow cones. Wendy Baskins, who helped F.A.C.T. put on the event, said that the back-to-school bash had been rained out before the school year and so the organization pushed it back to Saturday.

Members of Bread Riot, an organization that aims to assist local farmers and increase access to locally-grown foods, ran by the Salisbury-Rowan Farmers’ Market that morning and bought fresh vegetables to hand out to residents of the community.

After the health fair, F.A.C.T. also hosted a basketball “Skills and Drills” camp, which both Holt and Hardin said was part of a larger campaign that the organization has hosted for years. The group puts on a basketball camp during the summer and also partners it with a reading and literacy camp. The group also holds an annual “blessing of the children event,” where they recognize and hand out awards to students that were named to all A, B or A and B honors rolls or were recognized for perfect attendance or good conduct by their schools.