The sounds of my mothers voice awakened me in the middle of the night as she frantically gathered all four children into the living room. The lights were off, we were alone in the house and she insisted that there were thieves outside digging underneath the house to get in to hurt us. I was paralyzed with fear, and as we whimpered in the quietness of the room, she hushed us into silence. Suddenly the phone rang, and she yelled "do not answer the phone!! it's a bomb! it's a bomb!!" I could not understand why someone was trying to break into the house, I was too young to even question whether this was real or not, I was twelve. Was this really happening? It seemed like hours of torture waiting in the dark, until the cops arrived. They quickly patrolled and secured the area, to discover no one behind the house. No thieves or men with shovels digging behind the house, nothing!! There was no possible way our mom was making this up, right? She wouldn't possibly scare her children who she loved very much! Unfortunately, this was real, but it was only real in her mind. That was the first night we experienced moms mental illness, until later she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. That was the beginning of our path down the road of mental illness.
This is a small glimpse of my story but there are many stories and many families that are affected by their love ones illness, directly and indirectly. Families experience emotional heartache by watching their love ones suffer. The stigma that comes with this illness may even discourage some people to not talk about what is going on or reach out for help. There are financial challenges, hospitalizations and the less we reach out for help the less resources we have available to help those we love with this illness, I know I do not walk alone on this. Many families are struggling to cope without the resources or the support.
As you may or may not know, I am involved with the Orange County Mental Health community through a local non-profit know as NAMI-OC (National Alliance on Mental Illness). This year I rose to the challenge of being a team captain for their major fundraiser, 9th Annual NAMIRUNS. As a team captain I am continuing to reach out and help support their cause.
NAMI’S mission is to remove stigma, and provide emotional
support, education and advocacy for mentally ill individuals and their
families. They offer FREE classes for families of the
mentally ill and their mentally ill love ones. Trained volunteers with experience working with the mentally
ill teach all the classes. NAMI-OC
also provides speakers for schools, churches, civic group, etc. The WarmLine, an additional aspect to
NAMI-OC, is available to answer any questions and give out vital resources
regarding mental illness.
Last year, NAMI-OC raised $145,000 and approximately 30,000
lives were touched. The goal for this
year is to increase the number of classes taught by one third and to do this
they are hoping to raise $160,000.
The office expenses are only 2% of the money raised and the
remainder goes into the cost of materials and training used for education. NAMI-OC efforts in helping our
community is near to my heart and I hope you will consider making a gift of any
amount to my team, as they are continuing to reach for their goal.
Click on this link to donate, thank you!
https://securewalks.nami.org/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?SID=4952295&LangPref=en-CA#&panel1-3
THANKS GOD
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