Terrell County Fall Festival highlights partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine

DAWSON – Terrell County is set to get into the autumnal spirit during its upcoming Family Fall Festival, which will see “trunk-or-treat,” local and regional vendors and the opportunity to participate in a research project. 

The Family Fall Festival will take place Oct. 25 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Cooper Carver Elementary School. The event is free and open to the public and will host a slew of kids’ games, food giveaways, free health screenings and more. It also will be the second time researchers from Morehouse School of Medicine will conduct a research project involving members of the Terrell County Community as part of the “Discovery of Us” project. 

“It’s a project that looks at underserved populations and gets at the question, ‘What is it about us?’” Sean Kimbro, an MSM professor and lead researcher for the Discovery of Us project, said. “A lot of times these underserved populations, rural communities … are not included in scientific discovery … and there’s possibilities of knowledge being left out. Our goal is to come in and actually … engage the community in research that helps them as opposed to everybody else.”

The project is taking place solely in Terrell County and will explore the difference in disparities faced by populations living in rural areas vs. urban centers. It’s funded by grants, independently of MSM.

Kimbro said the project places an emphasis on looking at food as medicine. Researchers are partnering with local organizations like Albany Area Primary Health Care and Terrell County Community Heart & Soul to seek grants to fund projects like community gardens.

Researchers are looking to establish a 2-acre garden next to Terrell County High School to supply fresh produce to both the school population and the community as a whole. Researchers say they also hope to expand a community garden in downtown Dawson where a Farmer’s Market may be developed. 

“The idea is that that community garden in Dawson would actually be expanded … maybe having jazz in the garden and having fresh food stuff being offered to the community out of that garden as well as the school garden,” Kimbro said. 

Researchers also would study the long-term health outcomes of making this fresh produce available to the community. Kimbro said researchers also have talked with AAPHC about the potential of “prescribing” foods from the gardens to help with conditions like blood sugar, diabetes or aiding in weight loss. 

Kimbro said researchers are looking to build something sustainable in Terrell County, equipping the community with infrastructure like a plow or tractor for the gardens. He said the school garden could have an educational impact for agricultural classes at the high school, creating science and research opportunities. 

Kimbro said he sees the garden project becoming a model for all of south Georgia. 

“So when the grant money ends, at the end of the day, there is an opportunity for the community to still have something to build upon and to utilize,” he said. 

The research project is still awaiting grant approval for these projects.

On Oct. 25, families are invited to take part in fun fall activities but also a research project. It’s offered to people 18 years or older and will require participants to consent to providing blood samples. 

Researchers will send the samples back to a lab to test for long-term sugar measurement, related to diabetes, and a prostate-specific antigen that serves as a warning sign for prostate cancer. An added bonus, participants will have the opportunity to receive ancestry results from their blood samples.

Participants also will have their blood pressure measured. The entire project will take each participant about an hour and a half. Participants will receive compensation. 

At a previous event, 80 Terrell County residents participated in the project, and Kimbro said the research group is hoping to see 400 people show up to this festival. 

On top of the research opportunity, more than 25 vendors with resources for the community will attend. Stephanie Johnson, the Dawson Downtown Development Authority director, said she’s hoping the festival will show Terrell residents that they have services available to them.

“If we have to bring them in as a booth or a table, that’s still bringing in impact,” she said. 

Johnson said the partnership with MSM researchers will be eye-opening for the Terrell community. 

“If you’re born and raised here, you don’t see the disparities … what we’re missing … much because you’ve never expected anything else,” she said. 

Johnson said the first Discovery of Us event revealed key concerns about food, health and wellness disparities. She said Dawson and Terrell have limited fresh food opportunities and an influx of convenience stores offering unhealthy products. 

“It made me realize that we need more outside support when it comes to those things,” she said. “My goal is for Morehouse to give our community more exposure and understanding of how our health and wellness is so important.” 

Johnson said the project also coincides with the DDA’s goals for downtown with the hope of a community garden pairing with an eventual farmer’s market and other local food shops. 

She said it’s an honor for Terrell County to be chosen for the MSM project. 

“It’s a long time coming,” Johnson said. “It’s not just about today’s generation, but it’s about future generations. Showing them that this is what happens when the community connects. You’re looking at farm-to-table, education-to-table, municipality-to-table … education from a food medicine standpoint.”