CMHA raises $1 million in campaign
The local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is on track to achieve a current project’s fundraising goal by the end of the year, according to a public update on the initiative made Sunday. After surpassing its three-year $500,000 objective in just twelve months, the Sole Focus Project upped the target to $1.5 million in February of 2018. Now at the end of its second year, the CMHA Windsor-Essex County Branch initiative to improve mental health awareness and education has raised a total of $1.06 million, leaving $440,000 to go.
“The objective was to create a movement in the region to educate, enlist, and really get people involved and excited about community and mental health,” said Gail Robertson, a Sole Focus Project campaign ambassador and emcee of the initiative’s event. “We asked individuals and organizations to take a stand for mental health, and in true Windsor fashion, you stepped up.”
While officials took to the podium to present at the Roseland Golf and Curling Club, children in attendance participated in activities to benefit their physical and mental health. Some did yoga on blue mats, while others made crafts.
“These funds allow CMHA to provide an increasing number of educational sessions, provide greater outreach in the community, and create an endowment fund to provide sustainability of the supports and programming,” said Robert Moroz, integrated director of patient and community services for both the local CMHA and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. In its second year, the Sole Focus Project funded increased mental health and training sessions that reached over 12,000 people in workplaces and at schools, Moroz said. Through its suicide prevention courses, the CMHA certified 243 suicide alert helpers and 428 suicide interventionists.
Also thanks to project funding, the CMHA has been working with first responders to create a peer support system, as well as providing them with training to care for their mental health. Claudia den Boer, CEO of the local CMHA, was out of town for a provincial conference during the event, so she addressed the audience of dozens via a pre-recorded video.
“It is making such a difference in terms of our ability to continue to delivery necessary programming that is really starting to show in individuals letting us know what a difference its made in their lives,” den Boer said. “We’re helping people to understand what symptoms of mental un-wellness are, and this is critical work that we’re doing.” Moroz announced several fundraising events scheduled for 2019 to help the Sole Focus Project reach its target, including a Breakfast of Champions in May with keynote speaker Steven Page, former lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies. To donate to the Sole Focus Project, visit solefocusproject.ca.