Warm, freshly popped corn will be waiting for folks who stop by Hope Unlimited’s booth at this weekend’s Iola Area Chamber of Commerce Business EXPO.
“We are so grateful to Sonic Equipment for letting us use their popcorn machine at the EXPO this year. Almost everyone likes freshly popped corn,” said Dorothy Sparks, Hope Unlimited director.
Cris Bacon, Hope Unlimited’s new volunteer coordinator, has included the design of the EXPO booth as one of her duties. Volunteer applications will be among brochures about physical and mental abuse and sexual assault.
Visitors to the booth are encouraged to enter Hope Unlimited’s drawing for a gift basket and to pick up nail files which have crisis numbers on them.
“We will also be giving away ice scrapers. We ordered them last year thinking the EXPO would again be in January, not March,” Sparks said.
Hope Unlimited also accepts old cell phones and ink cartridges for recycling, which will be sent to the Funding Factory in exchange for office equipment. Funding Factory partners with nonprofit organizations across the country to raise much-needed funds and ease the volume of waste in landfills.
The EXPO begins at 5 p.m. Friday and runs from 8 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
T-SHIRTS that read “You Can’t be Old and Wise Until You’ve been Young and Crazy,” will be the prizes for five drawings at the Windsor Place booth.
The blue and gold shirts sport the favorite saying of the Age-to-Age preschool hosted at Windsor Place Residential Care Facility.
Tara Gardens, an Iola residential care facility, will have packets of flower seeds to distribute at its booth. Peggy Strong, administrator, said residents there decorated the packets. A basket full of plants will be Tara’s prize in daily drawings at the EXPO. Other giveaways are planned.
“Grow Healthy With Us” is the theme of The Family Physicians’ booth. A side show on healthy eating habits will be featured, vegetable seeds in small planters will be given away and a physician will also be on hand to answer questions.
Give your feet a rest at the Iola Respiratory booth. A machine that detects pressure points from ill-matching shoes helps show the comfort and benefits of either inserts or orthopedic shoes. A free pair of orthopedic shoes will be offered in a drawing.
NEXT TO the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce booth will be the Community Involvement Task Force/PRIDE Committee and Molly Trolley booth.
