A Pickerington church will host a day of entertainment and pampering Saturday, Aug. 11, for area single parents and their children at Pickerington High School Central.

Grace Fellowship Church will present its third annual Single Parent Fair from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the school.

The event is free and open to the community. It is designed to honor the hard work of single-parent families and recognize the challenges they face by providing lunch and fun activities.

"People can come any time during the day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.," said Nicole Waggoner, impact team leader at Grace Fellowship.

"Everything is free. We have free lunch, pedicures, car washes, school supplies, kids' haircuts, family photos, some basic health screenings and games for kids. There also will be raffle prizes."

Waggoner said Grace Fellowship developed its Single Parent Fair three years ago after church members began to better understand the growing number of single-parent households in Pickerington and surrounding communities, as well as the financial and time constraints single parents often face.

In its first year, the fair drew about 50 attendees, Waggoner said. Last year, that number rose to around 100.

This year, she said, about 100 church members have volunteered to help organize and conduct the fair, and they hope to attract 150 to 200 visitors.

"Our church just wants to take the opportunity to love on single parents and kids in our community," she said. "There's no strings attached, and they don't have to be church members.

"We hope to provide some things they might need before school starts and just give them a fun day," she added. "We just recognize some single parents might need a little bit of a helping hand with these types of things and we would like to provide that to them for free."

In addition to community outreach, Waggoner said Grace Fellowship has continued the Single Parent Fair due to responses its members have received from parents and children who attended the event.

"Every year, we've had parents stop us and say how much they appreciate the event and that they've been able to spend time doing some things they might not have been able to do," she said.

"It's fun. Every year, people have fun and we enjoy putting it on."

For more information about Grace Fellowship and the Single Parent Fair, visit gracepickerington.org.