Tempe's Care Fair Community Story Walk Kicks Off

TEMPE, AZ — A line of bright-yellow signs dot the landscape outside the front door of Tempe's Escalante Community Center.

The signs include a host of information, from providing resources for the city's homeless population to systems of support for victims of domestic violence.

The aim of the month-long Care Fair Community Story Walk is to tell the story of local nonprofits and city programs that aim to serve vulnerable populations.

Tempe's plan is to also provide a smaller version of the story walk at other parks around the city, maximizing the program's reach.

The project has become a labor of love for Tempe residents, like Tammy Reed.

Reed is the Tempe Community Council board president, which is a body full of volunteers, seeks to administer direct services to the city's nonprofit partners.

She said the 2021 event, while different from any previous iteration, still has the chance to serve its target audience.

"We've only done the event for a couple years, pre-COVID, but it was really great," Reed told Patch. "We had 50-plus nonprofits, the city was there, we had things for kids. And it was really about, again, trying to reach those who might need services.

"And then also connecting with people who were interested in volunteering, and we had great turnout."

Reed said the 2020 iteration of the event was canceled as the board was in the middle of planning it.

That cancellation allowed Reed and company to pivot the event for 2021, thanks to the city's library department, which donated the 21 signs used at this year's Story Walk.

"Each one [of our signs] covers one of our six demographic populations that we focus on, and tells you about that population," Reed said. "It then provides information about the actual nonprofit partners in the city that can provide services for that group."

Reed said the signs feature everything from nonprofit organization's websites, phone numbers and even QR codes that redirect to certain services for Tempe's homeless and at-risk communities.

The main message of the 2021 fair is to get the message out to at-risk populations that help is available in Tempe.

"This was just a small thing that we felt we could do to help," Reed said. "So, even though it's getting hot, hopefully people are still getting outdoors and this is something that will be useful."

Reed said the 2021 fair took around four months to put together, combining the efforts of the city's libraries and parks departments, in addition to the community council itself.

Reed herself had to look up many of the URLs and phone numbers that are listed on the 21 signs, saying the project was a labor of love that was well worth the effort in the end.

"When we started meeting about this year's event, it was a lot of just kind of figuring out, 'OK, we can't be in-person. So what are our options?'," Reed said.

"So we decided that signs were what we were going to do, and then we got all the information put together."

Reed said the council's main goal for the 2021 fair is to make sure that as many Tempe residents have the information and resources needed to thrive.

"We just hope that by making the effort to get information out there in multiple parks that it will help," Reed said. "Even if it's one person, that finds a service that they didn't know was there. I think we'd consider that successful.

"Our whole mission is about connecting those in need with those who care. And so this is just our way of doing it."