Hundreds of residents attended the annual Greene County Senior Fair, which was hosted by the Greene County Commissioners, State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, State Rep. Pam Snyder and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging.
The annual event provides a valuable service to area seniors, who are able to receive valuable health screenings and information on a wide variety of programs and services tailored to them. Those in attendance were also able to enjoy music, lunch and a chance to win prizes.
The free Senior Fair – which features representatives from state, local and county agencies and vendors who provide services to seniors – gives older adults the opportunity to find out what programs are available to help them with their daily routines.
The recent event saw nearly 80 vendors providing valuable information regarding their respective services, as well as door prizes. Waynesburg Walmart also donated a flat screen television as a grand prize.
Lunch was paid for by Consol Energy and was prepared by the Greene County Career and Technology Center, whose students were led by Dan Wagner, CTC Culinary Arts Instructor; and live music was provided by John Koval and Two To Win.
Nancy Riggle, Greene County Supervisor for Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging, commended the local and state dignitaries, vendors, businesses, event coordinators and the numerous volunteers for contributing the event’s success.
“This year’s event was the biggest one yet, and that would not have possible without the combined efforts of everyone who worked so hard to bring it to fruition,” Riggle said. “The seniors who attended not only were able to enjoy a great lunch and wonderful music, they hopefully gathered a great deal of important information about services that are available to them.”
Attendees were able to receive a free flu shot by presenting their Medicare card, and a prescription Drug Take Back Program was also available on site for seniors, which Riggle said was “a huge success” this year. In fact, Riggle said she expects the program to not only return next year, but also encourage more residents to take advantage of the program.
The Greene County Commissioners said they are happy to be involved with the annual Senior Fair.
“Each year that this special event is held provides a great opportunity for area seniors to get a massive amount of information that can be truly beneficial for them,” said Commissioner Blair Zimmerman. “We encourage all of our seniors to come to this Senior Fair every year and take advantage of this opportunity, and it thrills us to see that many seniors do just that, year after year.”
“I had the opportunity to talk with many different residents who were in attendance, and I was very happy to hear them say how wonderful they thought the Senior Fair was,” said Commissioner Dave Coder. “It truly is a special event, one that we hope will continue for years to come.”
“Not only was it encouraging to see how many residents were in attendance, it was also great to see how many vendors were there providing valuable information that could really help the seniors improve their lives,” said Commissioner Archie Trader.
With the 2019 event in the books, Senior Fair coordinators are already focusing on next year’s event, with the anticipation of it “even bigger and better,” Riggle said. The event is always held on the first Friday of each October, so Riggle encourages all seniors to plan accordingly.
For more information about the annual Greene Senior Fair, contact Nancy Riggle at 724-852-1510.
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