A Bakersfield nonprofit hosted a resource fair Saturday aimed at serving residents who are underserved and often overlooked.Nova Sorella held the first annual Community First Resource Fair, bringing together organizations includ ing Serving Hope and The Open Door Network to connect community members with services.PJ Jones, founder and executive director of Nova Sorella, said the event was meant to bring hope to a community that is underserved, undervalued, and often overlooked.Jones organized the fair in honor of her son, Ty Jr. Jones, who was killed by gun violence in January 2017. Saturday marked his birthday."It's something that I know that he would love. He loved giving back one of the last things that he said before he died because he's seen a lot of death, and he was seeing an increase in gunshots and people killing each other was that we need to do better as a community which is why I did this for him today," Jones said.Manuel Crespo attended the fair and said the event helped him explore his options."Help me to decide what I want to do and like, work or what. And I'm looking for job still, so I'm out here trying to look for work and a place to live," Crespo said.Crespo said he was grateful for the organization's efforts."I'm happy that they are helping out with people because people," Crespo said.Jones said she was encouraged by the turnout and the impact the fair had on attendees."Fed a couple of families, you know. We've handed out a couple of hygiene products so far, so it's slow, but it's, you know, it's overwhelming to see that the few that we've helped so far. And I look forward to helping so many in the future," Jones said.Jones said she also hopes the fair can draw attention to the rise in violence in Kern County."Seeing the rise in and increasing a lot of gun violence as we're seeing in this community today, we need to do better as a community," Jones said.Nova Sorella plans to make the Community First Resource Fair an annual event.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less