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POP helping families with valuable information and resources

POP attendee Lisa Baker receiving a free health screening from the U.C. Davis Willow Clinic

Lisa Baker is a mother of three young children and is currently homeless. Her biggest problem has been finding the right information to get her family out of this situation.

“Some resources I’ve come across in the past, their phone numbers have been disconnected for some reason,” Baker said.

That was one of the reasons why Baker attended the fourth annual People Overcoming Poverty (POP) community resource fair on May 12 at The Salvation Army Ray Robinson Oak Park Community Center. Over 50 agencies were on hand to give the public information on housing, job training, health care and other social services.

“Everybody at this event was so nice and helpful,” Baker said. “I had a chance to ask questions, and if they couldn’t answer my questions, they were able to refer me to somebody else who could help.”

Along with the agency information tables, the more than 300 POP attendees enjoyed free food and drinks, prize drawings and activities for children. And for the first time ever at POP, there was even a free health screening from the U.C. Davis Willow Clinic.

“You got to see people from all walks of life here today,” said Gary Tsai, Willow Clinic co-director. “All of our patients were really appreciative of the services that we provided.”

Once again, The Salvation Army and 2-1-1 Sacramento partnered up to host POP. And the event organizers knew that a resource fair like POP was needed for the public to utilize.

“More and more families are looking for help with the resources that would serve them and would cover the needs they have,” Nevena Seljak, 2-1-1 Sacramento database coordinator. “And we think that POP is a great first step for helping those families who are in that situation.”