This was not your average vaccination clinic.
It was possible Saturday afternoon to get a bagged lunch, a winter coat, and a job at the COVID-19 vaccination clinic held at the Olivet Boys’ & Girls’ Police Athletic League Club.
The Community Resources and Job Fair was held in the gymnasium on one side of Walnut Street while, on the opposite side, at the main club, health professionals with Berks Community Health Center were giving the shots or administering COVID tests.
Employers, including home health care agencies, were hiring on the spot. Among the recruiters on hand were representatives of the Reading Public Works Department and the Olivet Club itself.
To add some verve, the Reading High School cheerleaders were on hand and DJ H-Vidal from the hip-hop radio station LOUD 98.5 was broadcasting live from the gym.
Besides employment recruiters, representatives from a host of nonprofit organizations had pamphlets and giveaways for those who stopped by before or after visiting the clinic.
We Agape You, an organization that typically works to help veterans in need, received a $15,000 state grant as part of Pennsylvania’s grassroots vaccine outreach effort.
Olivet Boys and Girls PAL Club, 325 Walnut St, was the site of a COVID vaccine clinic Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. The event was a collaboration of several nonprofit organizations targeting inner city residents. (STEVEN HENSHAW — READING EAGLE)
The state distributed 65 grants totaling $2.5 million to help organizations encourage hesitant Pennsylvanians to get the COVID vaccine, according to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office.
We Agape You organized the Job and Resources Fair with The Real Deal610, a Reading-based nonprofit focused on bringing awareness to mental health problems and helping people overcome obstacles, along with Olivet and Berks Community Health Center.
Seleda Simmons, executive director of The Real Deal610, said COVID has had a devastating effect on the community in terms of job security and mental health.
“If there’s one thing COVD taught us is that jobs are not secure,” she said.
The COVID vaccine clinic presented an opportunity to provide information about the resources that are available, including job opportunities.
The Reading Public Works Department is looking to hire laborers, truck drivers and administrative assistants, said Bethany Ayers Fisher, city sustainability manager.
Some of the openings are the result of retirements, she said. To apply or find out more information, go to readingpa.gov/full-jobs
Stephan Fains, outreach coordinator with Berks Community Action Program, or BCAP, was recruiting as well—not to fill jobs but to get young men on board with a mission. He was there to talk about the various initiatives promoting responsible fatherhood.
Chris Winters, president and CEO of Olivet, said he was quick to say “let’s do it” when Randolph Simmons, president of We Agape You, proposed organizing a big event around a COVID vaccination clinic.
Through sponsors they provided disinfecting products, school supplies, new winter coats and other necessities.
The Olivet organization has been doggedly pursued vaccination through clinics it has held in partnership with Berks Community Health Center and other partners. About 11,000 shots have been given at them, Winters said.
Winters sees vaccination as a path to normalcy, noting that parents worried about their kids bringing COVID home are keeping a lot of younger children away from the clubs, which provide a safe, structured environment for socialization and other needs.
“We keep forging ahead and we’re going to keep doing this,” Winters said. “The one thing I tell my team all the time is that the blue doors have never closed. We have kept our doors open the whole time.”
The health professionals who conducted the vaccine and testing clinic said it wasn’t as busy as the typical clinic, perhaps due to a combination of the extremely cold weather and the location, which didn’t easily lend itself to drive-up traffic.
“We were told we would be vaccinating a lot of people so we came equipped to vaccinate 400 people, if need be,” said Heather Raquet, vaccine nurse coordinator with Berks Community Health Center.
Based on the traffic, it appeared they would struggle to give out half that many shots.
But that didn’t deter Simmons. He said the group will conduct more such events in the future to try to reach the hard-to-reach populations.
“We want to be able to reach people on their own level, whatever they are seeking to do, to learn, to be employed, for housing, that’s what we’re all about,” Simmons said
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Originally Appeared Here