HATFIELD— The non-profit mental health organization will host a water-themed fundraiser this Saturday in the center of town.
Hatfield Embraces Acceptance and Dismantles Stigma (HEADS) Up’s “Water Palooza” will include a run/walk along the 2-mile loop around the center of town, a scavenger hunt and waterslides beginning behind the Hatfield Public Library. Sprinklers, slip-and-slides, water balloons and water squirters will be set up along the route, all optional for participants. Participants will receive a raffle ticket for completing the scavenger hunt along the route, too.
“We’re really promoting the family friendliness of the event,” said Shawn Selby treasurer of HEADS Up. “Also, leashed dogs are welcomed.”
HEADS Up is a volunteer group dedicated to supporting and promoting mental health in Hatfield. Last year about 100 people attended the first Water Palooza, making about $600 for the organization. HEADS Up recently received a tax-exempt non-profit status after a lengthy application process, Selby said, and is run by about eight core members.
“The organization was prompted by a kind of a meeting we had in town with mental health professionals on suicide prevention because we’ve had a number of deaths by suicide in the community,” Selby said. “There was a community meeting that was held, a forum on mental health and suicide prevention, and out of that forum came a desire to create community organization.”
Registration for the run/walk begins at 9:00 a.m. and the run begins at 10:00 a.m. at the library yard at 39 Main St. Individual tickets are $10 and a family tickets will be sold for $25.
Pre-registration for the event is available online. For more information, visit the organization’s Facebook page, “Hatfield HEADS Up”.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.