Geary Family YMCA slates Wellness Fair

FOSTORIA — Chances are that you or a family member needs attention for a specific medical issue.Or, perhaps you'd like to become more physically fit.Or, maybe you need some help with money management.The folks at the Geary Family YMCA in Fostoria would love to see you visit their free Community Wellness Fair, set for 4 to 7 p.m., Nov. 20, at the YMCA, located at 154 W. Center St.A variety of agencies will be represented to help the public with various situations with the aim of making their lives easier and more pleasurable. Those attending will not only be able to learn about and even try out some of the YMCA's own offerings, but they'll essentially be able to "shop" for solutions to specific situations or make notations for "just-in-case" referral."We're excited," said Kristen Tiell, the YMCA's chief executive officer and president. "We have (13) vendors so far who have committed and I'm still reaching out to people."She said gathering 20 vendors for the event "would be really awesome.""We're just trying to get it out to the community because it's open to the community; it's not just for members," Tiell said. "And that night, we will be doing demos in our fitness classes. They'll be 20-minute demos and they'll be upstairs and downstairs. And, we'll, obviously, have YMCA info; Lisa Kinney will be running programming in our community room."Tiell said the idea for the fair originated with Childcare Director Chris Costilla and Costilla's assistant, Hannah Wayne."We really just wanted to help our families with resources that they maybe couldn't find or didn't have and help give them an opportunity to look at services that are open, to help them out," Wayne said."We put together (a list) of some agencies and services," Costilla said. "Then we came down to Kristen and talked to her and just brainstormed agencies and people we could contact to bring in."Costilla noted that children being cared for at the YMCA need to have various screenings done, including a physical examination."When Hannah and Chris first came up with the idea, we had a person who needed a physical and she was short on money and we didn't know where to send her," Tiell said. ... "They were, like, 'What if we can find resources for people like that, who might need a physical fast?' When I reached out to Linda (Thiel, of Community Health Services), she was, like, 'Oh, yeah, we can do stuff like that.'"Questions about the fair may be emailed to ktiell@gearyfamilyymca.org.