SALISBURY — The Reach Church hosted a health fair on Saturday in an effort to connect the community with a multitude of different organizations offering free health screenings, public safety information and more health-related assistance.

The event was organized by Victoria Connor, the president of the church ministry department, who said that she invited a variety of resources and organizations in an effort to provide an event that could help everyone, whether they were “college kids, the elderly, single parents. It wasn’t limited to Rowan County. You could be a resident from the surrounding area.”

Organizations who attended the event included the YMCA, Novant Health, the Salisbury Fire Department, Daymark Recovery Services, Rowan County Public Health, Atrium Health, Community Care Clinic and more.

“My heart and passion for hosting this was to bring awareness to people about different health-related issues. We perish because of the lack of knowledge. We can get proactive and learn some things that we didn’t know about the body and prevent things or make better choices either before or after life-altering situations. I have lost a lot of family members and church members to different health-related diseases. So it’s important that we educate people and encourage them to see a doctor often and not to wait until it’s too late,” wrote Connor in an email on Monday.

Connor said that she did not have an idea of how many people stopped by the Salisbury City Park Recreation Center, where the fair was held, on Saturday because of the decentralized nature of the fair, with vendors set up throughout the building and Novant Health’s mobile screening buses and the OneBlood blood drive bus set up in a parking lot across the street.

“I am not sure of the headcount, because people were continuing to walk through. However, it was a very good turnout, networking took place and people were educated on some things and got the proper screenings they needed. I did want everyone to get their screenings and to get pampered afterwards. Free swag bags, juice samples, haircuts (and more were) offered, nail polish and free body massages. We just wanted to pour back into the community and be a blessing,” wrote Connor.

Connor also took time to thank the Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department, the vendors, Reach Church Pastor Bradley and his wife Tamika, the congregation of Reach Church and her family for their support of the event.

The health fair was the second annual rendition of the event, with the 2024 version being held at 320 North in China Grove.