More than 40 agencies have partnered to give residents a broad look at social services available in and around Dawson County.

Friday’s resource fair at Rock Creek Sports Complex coincides with the end of summer Movies in the Park event and begins at 6 p.m. The movie Alvin and the Chipmunk’s will start at dusk.

Both events are free to the public and give the local community an inexpensive option to spend Friday night with the family.

“We’ll have hotdogs, pizza, face painting and a moonwalk for the kids,” said Nancy Stites, director of Family Connection, which organized the resource fair.

For the adults, representatives from social service agencies across the county will be on hand to answer questions concerning help that is available in Dawson County.

“We did this last year with a few of the schools in the county, and saw the need,” Stites said. “We saw grandparents learning they could get food stamps to help in raising their grandchildren. We wanted to open that up to the entire community.”

The purpose is to raise community awareness of the many services available to Dawson County residents and strengthen the network of the local area service providers.

“With the economy the way it is right now, there’s a lot of people that have found themselves in situational poverty and for the first time needing social service resources, but having no idea where to turn,” Stites said.

In addition to social service representation from agencies such as the   Department of Family and Children Services, Kinship Care, NOA and Georgia Healthy Families, participants will include day care providers, 4-H, the Bowen Center for the Arts, Dawson County Public Library, PTA organizations, and individuals offering after-school activities.

For more information, call Nancy Stites at Family Connection at (706) 265-1981.

E-mail Michele Hester at michele@dawsonnews.com.