Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Central Alabama Wellness is hosting a Back to School Bash on July 22 at Chilton County High School to help Chilton students get prepared for the upcoming school year. The event starts at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 1 p.m.

There will be a live DJ at the event as well as inflatables, interactive games, free popcorn, food trucks and carnival games. There will also be a community resource vendor section with local wellness businesses promoting and teaching attendees the resources they have to keep them well.

Director of Central Alabama Wellness Zina Cartwell said CAW and the community wellness committees organized the event together. CAW will hand out 300 backpacks to Chilton students. Each one will be filled with school supplies and drug and alcohol prevention information.

“We have other community vendors coming out to give out their information for their organization,” Cartwell said. “We wanted to make it like an information fair where people can get information, but also their school supplies. We hope to promote mental wellness, as well as drug and alcohol prevention.”

The event is partly to give school supplies out to help the community, but also to spread awareness and prevention to help students remain well, especially with mental health. Cartwell said mental health information is very important for students to have on a daily basis to remain well.

“It is important for us to be able to give back to the community, but also let them know we want them to be completely well,” Cartwell said. “You can go to school all day long, but if you are dealing with mental health issues or substance abuse, that is definitely going to stunt your growth.”

Cartwell said she wants to make the annual event even bigger next year and already has some ideas to do so.