Electronic Fall 2025 | Issue 64

Community Outreach at Speaker Welch's Annual Back to School Fair

By: Kimberly Meyer, MD

The 13th Annual Back School/Health Fair was held on July 26th from 10:00am until 2pm at Proviso West High School. Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris" Welch, his family, and his staff once again hosted this wonderful event. A good time was had by ALL.

The event started with the Proviso West Marching Band, which is always a treat. Many vendors were in attendance – including Illinois Psychiatric Society, County Care, Freedom Baptist Church, CHANGE, Hillside Fire Department, Life off the Leash, and Hillside McDonald’s to name a few (Grimace made a cameo!).

There were many giveaways: boxes of food, raffles, backpacks filled with some of the essentials, ice cream (many tasty flavors!). The Erskine Reeves Barber academy provided free hair cuts. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity provided delicious hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and beverages.

The most important aspect of the Back to School/Health Fair were the resources to support families with children returning to school including dental and health screenings, food baskets and school supplies. The smiles on the faces of the children as well as the parents was heartwarming.  

I was equally honored to not only witness those parents who were courageous enough to share their stories of challenges with Dr. Scherer, but also the amount of gratitude that the parents displayed when Dr. Scherer took the time not only to listen to their experience but to offer some extremely helpful suggestions.

A special thank you to Kristen and Meghan – for the continued support and ongoing thoughts of ways to increase the organization’s visibility.