A local center, started and supported by Haddonfield locals, is hosting an annual beer-tasting event to raise funds to support its programs to help the youth of Camden.
The Wellness Center at UrbanPromise is hosting its annual Be Well, Be Promise fundraising event on Thursday, May 19 at the new Double Nickel Brew Pub in Pennsauken. This beer-tasting event, held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., will not only offer a fun evening, as well as a special Philadelphia Flyers guest, but it’s also a good way to help local children in need of health guidance.
“We’re helping families with food and resources … empowering them to help themselves … It (would be) very meaningful to have my community support what we’re doing here,” Haddonfield resident and Wellness Center founder Rebecca Bryan said.
“The Wellness Center is really one of the central centers at Camden, and for us to expand the programs there, we need to continue to generate funds,” committee chair and Haddonfield First Presbyterian Church Rev. Bill Getman said.
The non-profit UrbanPromise Wellness Center was started by Bryan, a Haddonfield resident and nurse practitioner, four years ago to address health concerns associated with growing up in concentrated urban poverty. A joint venture with the First Presbyterian Church in Haddonfield, the center’s mission is to reduce the impact of toxic stress on Camden youth, thus providing the opportunity for optimal well-being of body, mind and spirit.
Serving about 600 people a week, the Wellness Center provides students with information about and support for making healthy lifestyle choices and reducing the effects of stress, but it has grown into a much more important service.
“I started out thinking that I was going to teach the children about health,” Bryan said, “but what I am really teaching is about healing.”
Over the last four years, with support from the community and from fundraisers, the Wellness Center has grown to include yoga and meditation, instruction in mindfulness and nutrition, a community garden and a full-time therapist, as well as programs to instruct faculty and staff about trauma and its effects on children.
“It turns out a lot of kids have had some challenging experiences, such as hunger, unstable family lives and violence in the community. We do a lot of work to give kids the tools they need to be resilient … We try to create a healing community by being trauma informed,” Bryan said.
Held at houses in Haddonfield the past three years, the Be Well, Be Promise fundraising event this year will be held at the brewery Double Nickel. A newcomer to the local brewery scene, Double Nickel has been serving craft beer at 1585 Route 73 in Pennsauken for about five months and, according to brewmaster Drew Perry, “is happy to support the UrbanPromise Wellness Center and children in Camden.”
The night will feature flights of Double Nickel’s craft beers, food, a tombola auction, live music by the local band Breaking Curfew and the opportunity to hear about the good work going on in Camden. Also, special guest Nick Schultz of the Philadelphia Flyers will be in attendance.
“We thought having the event at this brewery would be mutually beneficial. This is a fun event with live music. We’re very excited to have Flyer Nick Schultz attending … This fundraising will help deepen the Wellness Center initiatives at UrbanPromise,” Bryan said.
The hope is to help raise funds for the Wellness Center, but also to inform the community about it and what it does for the urban children and teens who benefit from the center.
“My hope would be an understanding about the trauma that UrbanPromise students face on a regular basis and the ways that the Wellness Center helps them to deal with them,” Getman said.
Tickets to the May 19 event are $75. Those who are interested can get tickets in advance, but there will also be tickets available at the door. For information on this event or to get tickets, call (856) 986–8594 or visit www.urbanpromiseusa/wellnessevent. To learn more about the Wellness Center, visit www.urbanpromiseusa.org/wellness-center.
