Community Healing Fair celebrates 25 years

Where can you get more than 20 alternative health practitioners in one room for a day? You can find them at Saturday’s Community Healing Fair in Bend.

The fair started 25 years ago and exposes the community to different ways of healing in their life.

A total of 21 practitioners from massage to chiropractors filled the Bend Shilo Inn conference room Saturday.

One can of food equaled one event, so if you brought 21 cans, you could participate in all of them.

“So many times, people say, ‘I really can’t afford to do that,’ — but they can come and do it for a can of beans,” said Eileen Lock, the organizer. “I love seeing all the practitioners having a chance to be with the community. And they work hard all week, and they still come and donate their time, so I love all of it.”

One year, the event raised 1,000 pounds of food, and they were trying to break that record this year.

Organizers expected 200 to 300 people to participate.

The food is donated to the food bank at NeighborImpact, a 21 Cares for Kids partner.