Waterford Unity Day gathers variety of resources Saturday

An event Saturday in Waterford is intended to remind people in need that while the community 13 miles east of downtown Modesto may feel isolated, they are not alone.

Waterford Unity Day, a grass-roots effort backed by the Waterford Ministerial Association, will include booths sharing information on a variety of resources. Organizers say among the groups represented will be Modesto Gospel Mission, El Concilio, Hughson Family Resource Center, United Samaritans, Teen Challenge, Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Turning Point and the drug and alcohol treatment programs Nirvana, Celebrate Recovery and Addiction Free Recovery Services.

“The event is to promote unity to parents because we’re so isolated and there are not many resources here” in Waterford and many people lack the transportation to seek them elsewhere in the county, said Iris Chopin, the volunteer spearheading Unity Day, which will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Community Center, 540 C St.

“God put it in my heart to do this,” Chopin said, adding that “the whole town is getting united” for the event. Waterford High School students will volunteer at Unity Day, she said, Soldiers of the Cross donated $400 toward food that will be served, businesses and others are providing food, and the Lions Club donated to pay for the Community Center use.

The free event will include music throughout the day, prize drawings, a kids zone and food including turkey soup, hot dogs, bread or rolls, chips, dessert, water, coffee and hot chocolate, Chopin said. “There will be testimonies of people in recovery who have overcome depression and alcoholism.”

Waterford Unity Day is the most recent of several events organized by community residents in the past year, said Waterford Assembly of God Pastor David McGaffee, noting a Day in the Park held last summer and a community Thanksgiving meal.

Regarding Unity Day, he said, “What we’re really wanting people to go away with is that there are people in the community who care about them,” McGaffee said. “The target is really people with issues, in crisis, people facing some circumstances they’re having a rough time with. That’s the idea of the many resources we’re trying to make available, from addiction and recovery to housing.”

Chopin and another organizer, Kathy Smith, posted on Facebook that other resources to be included at Waterford Unity Day are Friends Outside, which helps people with criminal records find employment; a probation re-entry program that offers services to help people on probation reintegrate with the community; and Project Yes, which provides training and employment assistance to youth.

For more on Unity Day, call Chopin at 209-604-0809.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Waterford Unity Day gathers variety of resources Saturday."