History

How we can best support our children going back-to-school?

New school supplies, a backpack, a fresh haircut, and encouragement from their community.

Origin Story: In 2014, civic leaders in the Rogue Valley decided to make this festival happen; David Mulig (ACCESS), Pam Marsh (Ashland Emergency Food Bank), and Leigh Madsen, (Ashland Community Resource Center), put their heads together to create not just a place to get a full backpack, but a stigma-free celebration, inclusive of all families, to provide students with all they need to feel ready and confident as they begin the school year: Family Fun Fest was born.

First Event: Though it took place in the dusty back parking lot of the food bank, the atmosphere was festive with bubbles & sidewalk chalk, games, prizes, dinner, and live music. All families were welcome to receive services and supplies with no documentation required. We provided a backpack full of school supplies to approximately 80 children, as well as hair cuts, health checks and free produce for the families. This event brought together leaders in social services in Jackson County: Rogue Community Health, ACCESS, AEFB, Maslow Project, Science Works, and a host of other resource agencies all of whom were eager to provide support and information to our community’s families.

Evolving: The event grew and evolved over the past several years including, after aparticularly smoky summer, the First Methodist Church of Ashland welcoming the festival into their community hall, and then donating hundreds of backpacks to the event. In 2019, we discovered that, while previously there had been five places to provide supplies for students, now there were only two. Also, we lost our special grant for purchasing the pens, notebooks, etc. but then the stars aligned as we received significant support form All Care.

Last Summer: The summer of 2019 festival welcomed 126 families, and gave backpacks to almost 350 children (another 150 were distributed by RCH outreach, Maslow, and local districts). Rogue Community Health offered over 20 wellness checks, vaccines, and dental checks, while volunteer stylists gave more than 60 haircuts. A vital product of collective impact, twenty different resource agencies brought information, games, and treats to build relationships and let these families know that they are a valued part of our community. Most of those agencies are represented in the 'Resource Organizations' page of this site.

Who Comes? Extending our reach, we took note this last year of our attendees. See the charts below for residences, languages, school districts of our families.

Each year, we gather to engage our community, support our students, and celebrate these valuable connections in the Rogue Valley.

History

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