MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Health Department Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program partnered with Head Start/Early Head Start to host Family Fun Night at Spark! Imagination and Science Center on Thursday evening.
The two programs share many of the same families with younger children.
The purpose of the event was to promote referrals between the two programs and introduce families to the center and what it has to offer.
Anne Macbride, Program Manager for the WIC program, said that they try to host the event near national nutrition month, which is in March, but with weather and scheduling conflicts, doing it in April worked best.
When asked about the event, Macbride said, “It helps strengthen families.”
Macbride said the families that participate in the WIC program get nutrition education credit for attending the event.
The science center provides free admission to WIC participants in Monongalia, Marion and Preston counties.
The event had healthy snacks, readings, and family-friendly entertainment activities.
Each family left with a farmer’s market bag with program information from “My Plate” and pepper seeds.
Beth Nair, the Monongalia County Schools Head Start and Early Head Start community liaison, said, “It’s just a great way to educate our families on what services WIC provides. It’s also a fun way to introduce nutritional ideas, the importance of healthy foods, and it’s just a great parent/child activity for our families to participate in.”
