CULLMAN, Ala. – The Community Cares Celebration was held last weekend at the Cullman Housing Authority off Cleveland Ave. Despite the threat of potential severe weather, the event managed to be a success. Good Samaritan Health Clinic hosted the event in light of the cancellation of their benefit concert from the recent surge of COVID-19 cases.
Good Samaritan Director Jolanda Hutson spoke with The Tribune, sharing, “It has been great. Of course, when we got here it was pouring down rain. We put up some tents and got it all out. It rained for the first 45 minutes of the event, but it did not stop us, and we have given out flu shots and health screenings. The Agriplex has some fun activities going on and it has been great.”
The Cullman City Police Department manned the grill for the event, with Officer Adam Clark sharing, “We cooked about 250 hotdogs, and we have chips and drinks for everybody. At first it was kind of slow today, but since the rain stopped, the turnout has been great. Jack’s Foodland is who supplied all our food and supplies, and they have been really good to us.”
From the North Alabama Agriplex, Director Rachel Dawsey hosted a few activities from her tent. She said, “We have our baby turtles here, and we are planting mixed green seeds. We also have the Pumpkin Hula-hoop toss set up for everyone, which is very cute. Those were provided locally by Calvert Farms.”
Cullman High School’s National Art Honor Society attended the event with art teacher Elizabeth Miller to paint hands for community members. Miller shared on the COVID-19 conscientious painting twist, “So I had an idea for Honor Society to do some sort of event at the football games, and Mrs. Hall suggested we do face-painting and I thought that was a great idea, so we started doing that. We had to skip it last year because of COVID and then this year, we are able to do it as hand painting. We have hand sanitizer, we also have gloves for the students, and alcohol to clean the brushes in between uses.”
Several students from the honor society spoke on how much they enjoyed the painting within the club, with Caren Hernandez sharing, “It is really great. We started with Christmas ornaments one year, and then we decided to make it a club and let people volunteer. Now we get to do this too!”
Roberta McClellan from the Cullman County Extension program brought the Extension’s food truck which served apple slaw that she had prepared. “When they originally wanted me to come, I was going to do a different recipe, but whenever they told me that I was going to be beside the hotdogs, I decided to do this and hand out samples. I have heard that it is pretty good on them, as well,” she said.
Clinical pharmacist Jared Rice, from Borden Pharmacy, was in attendance and shared, “It has been great. We have actually done a few flu shots and several folks have gotten wellness screenings. We have had a great morning,” He continued, “Chris Borden, who owns the pharmacy, has been a partner with Good Samaritan for a long time and I am on the board of the Good Samaritan Clinic. So, Chris and I have had a connection with Good Samaritan for a long time and of course, Good Samaritan and the Housing Authority put it on so we were brainstorming good things for the community here, and we thought maybe we could do some flu shots this time of year. It is the right time to be doing that. I am sort of here on both behalves. You really do get the best of the best at these events.”
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