Backpacks were among the items distributed at the health and back to school fair in Alamo on Saturday, July 16, 2022. (Erika De Los Reyes | The Monitor)
ALAMO — Rio Grande Valley officials are continuing to provide relief to local residents facing a rising cost of living due to inflation, this time in Alamo where the Hidalgo County Health and Human Services Department distributed backpacks, school supplies and vaccinations Saturday.
It couldn’t come at a better time for those who showed up for help as school is right around the corner.
Families gathered here at the South Alamo Community Resource Center where the county health department, in partnership with Hidalgo County Precinct 2 and Driscoll Health Plan, hosted a Back to School Health Fair on Saturday.
Along with free school supplies, attendees were given the opportunity to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine, as well as various other vaccines for varicella and meningitis with a $5 fee for kids and $10 fee for adults.
Rosa Rodriguez of Alamo attended Saturday’s fair with her 10-year-old daughter to gather essential supplies for the upcoming school year.
“Overall, this has helped because everything is so expensive right now, so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that these agencies are giving us to get supplies for our kids,” Rodriguez said, adding that any help goes a long way.
As they stopped at each booth, vendors provided them with a free set of school supplies such as pencils, notebooks, paper, crayons, string bags, water bottles and other school essentials.
She said an event like this saved her hundreds of dollars. Since the fair was expected to provide 400 backpacks with supplies, this means it created a combined thousands in savings for local residents.
“I spend around $300 to $400 every school year so we have saved quite a bit here,” Rodriguez said, adding that with the help of the fair she had collected a majority of the items on a school supply list.
Rosalinda Vazquez, 30, who works for the Donna school district attended the event with her nieces and nephews.
“Right now most families are going through financial hardships and it’s really hard for them to even get school supplies,” Vazquez said. “I really appreciate what they’re doing here because it helps them (attendees) also get health screenings and vaccines.”
Every little bit helps, according to Vazquez, who said low-income families benefit the most from these efforts.
“Some districts are offering free school supplies and some are not, so it’s good that this is happening,” Vazquez said. “I’ve already got notebooks, pencils, markers and everything. So scratch it off the list.”
As each family entered the pavilion, the children would receive a backpack donated by Driscoll Health Plan. Every year the organization participates in the fair by providing children across the Valley with quality backpacks.
Delia Garza from Driscoll Health Plan said each backpack cost around $14.
“Everything is going up, prices are going up everywhere so we want to make sure that we do help,” Garza said, adding that every year they try to provide backpacks for lower income communities. “There is always going to be a need so we want to just make sure that they know that we are a friend of the community.”
In the upcoming month, the county health department will be hosting another Back to School Health Fair in San Juan.
“We are excited to promote health and wellness in our community,” said Health and Human Services Chief Administrative Officer Eddie Olivarez in a news release. “We want to make sure that all students and their families receive the resources they need in preparation of the new school year.”
