Concert raises funds to fight mental-health problems
John Cameron launched from the Winspear Centre stage Friday night a five-year plan to raise more than $5 million to help Edmontonians with mental-health issues.
Cameron, the Keller Construction company president perhaps better known for his entertainment ventures, brought people near to tears with his production one moment and then had them dancing the next.
“We are not going to break down the barriers to mental health, we are going to smash them,” he told a near-sellout crowd at his Crescendo concert.
Cameron said for 10 years he had been dreaming about this concert and helping battle mental-health problems.
He partnered with the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation to raise funds for the ACCESS Open Minds Program. It helps youth navigate the mental-health care system “rapidly and appropriately.”
Into his army Friday, Cameron recruited 14-year-old Hailey Benedict, the St. Albert singer-songwriter who made a sensational impromptu appearance with Aussie superstar Keith Urban at the opening of Rogers Place last September.
Vocalists included Steven Page, co-founder and former frontman for the Barenaked Ladies, tenor Mark Masri and Edmonton’s country artist Candice Ryan.
Often drawing as much applause as performers were members of the choir and audience who had a spotlight thrown on them while they told of their battles with mental-health issues. Cameron revealed he, too, had suffered from depression and had needed help.
“It has been a 19-year journey for me,” he said. “This is not like a broken arm where you go and put a cast on and within weeks or months you are back to 100 per cent.
“This is a lifelong battle for some and up until recently, has been something no one wanted to talk or hear about.”
We hear daily about people in many walks of life who struggle, some ending their lives and some never getting help and living in darkness.
“Some raise their hand and say, ‘I need help,’ ” Cameron went on. “I am so glad I raised my hand many years ago. Talking about it and getting help does work.”
One in five Canadians will have a mental-health problem this year, statistics show.
The end of the concert was upbeat, with almost everyone standing to dance. Cameron’s message: “If you need help you are going to get it.”
NORQUEST PRAISED
A 28-year-old Cree mother of three praised NorQuest College last week for her educational success and helped raise $213,820 for the 1,000 Women, A Million Possibilities movement.
Brittany Whitford spoke at the 1,000 Women’s annual luncheon at the Shaw Conference Centre, which raised $40,000 more than last year.
“Be who you needed when you were younger,” Whitford said was the phrase which had motivated her. “My teen and young years were spent living a high-risk lifestyle full of chaos and addiction,” she said.
“The catalyst for change in my life began in 2015 when I decided to go back to school and further my education.
“I had been working in the health-services field for five-plus years and realized in order to be the change I would like to see, a higher education was necessary.”
NorQuest’s support, encouragement, scholarships and bursaries had made her journey more attainable.
“In the fall of 2017 I will be entering the third year of the bachelor of social work at the University of Calgary and I credit NorQuest for making my dream possible.”
Thanking the 1000 Women’s movement, Whitford said there are many like her who often underestimate their full potential because of barriers such as child care, finances and, as in her case, mental-health issues.
NorQuest president Jodi Abbott said in the last six years the movement had raised more than $2.25 million to help remove students’ barriers to education.