Taking Care of Yourself and Others- Comments for a Cause

Welcome to June. In some ways this has been the longest year of my life and in others it has gone quickly. It depends upon the day. As always I look forward to the first of the month because it is time to share our donation amount for our Comments for the Cause and reveal our latest cause.

This past month I selected Transylvania Tomorrow as our recipient of our Comments for a Cause. Our little local community and county has really taken a hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemic shut down. It’s been tough for our small businesses to stay alive and this fund is a real positive in our area.

The Tranyslvania Tomorrow Small Business Emergency Relief fund is an initiative created by the Transylvania Business Support Task Force to support Transylvania County small businesses during the COVID-19 epidemic. The program, which will be funded through the Community Focus Foundation 501(c)(3) will award grants up to $3,000. Many small businesses have already applied for and received funds from this great initiative.

Thanks to all who have read my posts and taken the time to comment on them Chris and I are happy to announce that we will be making a donation of $125 to Transylvania Tomorrow. As businesses slowly reopen it is important to continue to support them and to raise funds for this initiative. Thank you to all who have taken time to leave a comment.

Graphic from National Alliance on Mental illness

Here are some sobering facts.

1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
1 in 25 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. I have chosen NAMI to be our June Comments for a Cause recipient. May was actually Mental Health Awareness month but in my opinion every month should be.

NAMI provides support and education in a myriad of ways for both those who find themselves with a mental illness diagnosis and those who love and support them. It is not an easy system to navigate and I have heard personal testimonials from many who have shared with me what this organization has done to help them during a specific time of need.

One of the things that comes along with a mental illness is a stigma. One of the big pushes for the month has been to promote a #StigmaFree campaign. Click here to take the quiz and to support the #StigmaFree initiative.

Image from National Alliance on Mental Illness

Please take time to check out the National Alliance on Mental Illness sometime during the month of June. It has so much information for everyone and even includes information that is helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent racist incidents. Mental illness can be treated. It can only not be treated if folks do not seek help. Suicide prevention is a huge goal of mental illness education. At the end of this post I will share direct links to several places that offer help. Please share these and maybe even print out the numbers and links so that you have them when the situation arises that you can share them.

We are all in this together and it is up to each of us to share our knowledge and our help with others. Be kind. Be well. As always, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Each comment made on any post during the month means a 50 cent donation (capped at $500) to NAMI as our Comments for a Cause recipient.