For most, if not all of us, the summer of 2020 has proven to be very different from summers of the past. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many cancellations and closures, and has altered many plans. Our Sizzlin’ Summer Series was no different. While the virus forced us to cancel our traditional, in-person events held each Saturday morning on the Burnsville Town Square, we refused to let it ruin our fun. Instead, we hosted our first ever Virtual Sizzlin’ Summer Series, which was focused on providing families with fun, inexpensive ways to keep their minds and bodies active, and to connect with one another while sheltering at home.
Throughout the Virtual Sizzlin’ Summer Series, we collaborated with area agencies and coalitions to present daily activities and weekly challenges geared towards keeping families healthy and active. Activities included a mask making challenge, a special Zoom presentation by the WNC Nature Center, scavenger hunts, fort building and tower building challenges and much more! In addition, we were able to hold weekly participation drawings, which awarded close to $200 in gift certificates to local businesses.
A special thank you goes out to WNC Bridge Foundation, title sponsor of the Sizzlin’ Summer Series. In addition, we are extremely grateful to AMY Wellness Foundation, whose grant funding has supported all of Partners Aligned Toward Health’s (PATH’s) after-school and summer initiatives in the past year. We also want to give a big round of applause to the following agencies and coalitions 
who collaborated with us to make this years’ series a success: Healthy Yancey, SEARCH (Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare), Blue Ridge Partnership for Children, N.C. Guardian ad Litem, Appalachian Youth to Youth, Parkway Playhouse, A.M.Y. Regional Library System and the Mitchell-Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force.
The Sizzlin’ Summer Series is a collaborative project of Healthy Yancey (a program of PATH), a partnership of concerned citizens working together to improve the quality of health for all people in Yancey County. Partners Aligned Toward Health (PATH) and Healthy Yancey are committed to providing fun and accessible opportunities for physical activities that people can and want to do for a lifetime.
