The second annual Pilot Point Health Fair is returning to Pilot Point Middle School on July 18.
With more than 50 vendors set for the event, the PPMS gym will be the main hub for the Health Fair, which will again feature blood testing by Texas Health Resources, onsite mammograms by Texas Health and demonstrations by local health providers.
'For Denton Freedom House being a host, it is important to give back to a community that has been so giving to us,' said Maria Jones, one of four cofounders of the fair.
The idea for the event came to Jones during a Texas Health Resources health summit.
'Area code 76258 was shown to have the least amount of ... health resources,' she said. 'So, that bothered me, so then I said, 'Well, what can I do about that?'' She credited inspiration from God in helping her come up with the idea of the health fair and her fellow co-founders, Renee Polk, Wendy Adkins and Abigail Bardwell, with helping her make the health fair a reality.
'Last year was incredible,' Jones said. 'It more than met my expectations.'
With the goal number of vendors met for the 2026 fair, and 'a wide variety of vendors' at that, Jones has high hopes for attendee numbers.
'I'm hoping this year we have three times the amount of attendees,' she said.
That would be around 300 Health Fair visitors.
'There are so many resources that are available in our area that many people do not know about, and that includes nonprofits, that includes free and reduced [cost] health services,' Jones said.
Adkins added that she loves providing a chance for community members to get together to spend time interacting with a free community event, no matter their socioeconomic status.
'This is a great time to bring people together as families are thinking about starting the school year and looking at resources so they can keep their children healthy as the school year begins,' she said.
Polk added that she's grateful there will be so many resources available for not just families with young children, but also older members of the community as well.
'While our community is focused so much on new growth that's coming in, which typically means younger, newer families starting out, it seems that we lose our older population in the shuffle and forget to focus on them, so we're bringing alive what is available to them and making sure they're aware and they know how to get that help,' Polk said.
Having the mammogram unit and other screening tests, too, is personal for her, as she experienced firsthand how crucial being checked for breast cancer in time can be.
'Had it not been for screening, mine wouldn't have been detected, and I probably wouldn't be here today,' Polk said.
The Health Fair will also have a Carter BloodCare drive on site.
Having a chance for people to get free checks so attendees 'know if there's something that they need to go and have checked out further' is why the project is important to Bardwell.
'That can really give a lot of peace of mind if there's someone who isn't doing well in some arenas of life for them to be able to get a snapshot of what's going on inside of themselves,' Bardwell said.
With increased vendors in the arenas of senior needs, mental health, veteran care and children's services, the Pilot Point Health Fair is set to have a little bit of something for everyone in the community.
To see the full list of vendors and sponsors, see Page 8A.
For more information, visit pilotpointhealthfair. org.
While the focus is on Pilot Point, people from neighboring communities are welcome to attend.
'We just want everyone to get checked and be well,' Jones said.
