By Chris Moore

chris.moore@panews.com

 

NEDERLAND — Nederland High School hosted a health fair in the cafeteria Wednesday. Hundreds of students received goods and services from haircuts to school supplies to help them start the year off right.

“Last year I think we were able to serve about 350 students,” Director of Alternative Education Jared Walker said. “This year, if we can get 400 that would be great. I’m just trying to improve it every year.”

Walker said that local churches and organizations provided the items and services.

“The First Baptist Church of Nederland provided backpacks,” he said. “We have certain companies donated money so that we could buy school supplies. Our PTA has been helping out a lot buying school supplies and things that students need to be successful the first day of school.

“Jefferson County is providing immunizations to students and parents. Our Methodist church in Nederland is providing underwear and socks.”

Walker said that the goal of the event is to have the students as prepared for the start of the school year as possible.

“We don’t want them to have to worry about anything other than doing their work,” he said. “We want to make sure they are ready for the first day of school.”

Walker said that the health fair could be more important than in recent years for those still dealing with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey.

“This could really help them,” Walker said. “Parents, teachers, the whole community was affected by Harvey. If this alleviates a burden that maybe some families have, hopefully it’s a positive impact for the community.”

Students from Lamar State College Port Arthur provided haircuts to Nederland students for the upcoming year. Dana Barnes said that the health fair helped a lot.

“I have four kids and I’m a single mom,” she said. “It minimizes what I need to buy and helped with the haircuts.

“I have two that love getting their hair cut and I have one that’s very particular and he won’t let anybody touch his hair. They all enjoyed getting the backpacks and shirts. This really helped out a lot.”