by greymatters on Apr.01, 2010
NAMIWalks Southern Arizona another success!
Last Saturday, March 27th over 3500 particpants gathered at Sam
Lena Park in Tucson to celebrate the realilty of mental health
recovery and to reduce stigma for people with mental illness.
The Opening Ceremony began with the Presentation of Colors by
the Air National Guard. Then Betsy Bruce and Mike Rapp
introduced Honorary Chair Rodney Glassman who sang the National
Anthem. Councilwoman Karin Uhlich also greeted the crowd with
words of encouragement and Judy Johnson from the Community
Partnership of Southern Arizona spoke about the importance of
proper treatment and the success of Southern Arizona’s single
biggest awareness building event, NAMIWalks.Mark Stein from KOLD News 13 cut the ribbon and the walkers were off to the sounds of the Seven Pipers Scottish Society Bagpipe members.
Almost 100 volunteers assisted in organizing and implementing the huge event including NAMI Southern Arizona and NAMI Southeastern Arizona volunteers, members from local Kiwanis clubs, Rincon High School, Pima and Cochise Colleges. Mental health provider services provided information and several local restaurants donated food and refreshments. The crowd was also entertained with Karaoke, Japanese Drummers and Folklorico Dancers. Over fifty local businesses and organizations proided sponsorships of cash and in-kind donations.
Local mental health providers CODAC and La Frontera had super size walking teams of over 300 particpants each. Other huge teams were in attendance from University Physicians Healthcare, COPE, Intermountain, and the University of Arizona’s Health and Wellness Center. Some teams walked in memory of a lost one or in recognition of a family member living with a mental illness. Community College teams participated as did teams from local churches, law enforcement agencies including the Pima County Attorney’s office and the Veteran’s Administration Healthcare.
NAMIWalks Southern Arizona is the single largest fundraising event for the local NAMI affilliates in Tucson and Sierra Vista. The event has enabled the organizations to increase the programs and services tenfold over the last four years. NAMI services include educational classes, support groups, advocacy, Crisis Intervention Training, Speakers presentations and resource specialistists in English and in Spanish. Total donations for 2010 are down from last year, but participation is still growing increasing awareness and building the National Alliance on Mental Illness profile in our communities. One in four families are affected by mental illness and NAMI is here to support them.
All services offered by the non-profit are totally free of charge. Donations of support are still being accepted at the Walk website at www.nami.org/namiwalks/AZ/Tucson or by calling the office direct at 520-622-5582 520-622-5582
April 2nd, 2010 on 2:22 pm
Withot doubt NAMI does wonderful work in our region and the country providing advocacy, education and support. It is wonderful to see the amounts of people showing up for this event, the sea of colors, the social interactions and personal/profesional connections taking place during an event like this.
Hopefully this will translate in more visibility and responsivity from our community members. In this difficult fiscal times in which the state support for services to the mentally ill continues to pathetically compromise the ability of public agencies to provide services, and the cuts of services to non-AHCCCS eligible people, the work of organizations such as NAMI, DBSA, and other non for profits becomse most important.
April 2nd, 2010 on 4:04 pm
It’s very encouraging to see the large amounts of people from all walks of life joining the Walk last Saturday. NAMI sure does a wonderful job in support of people with mental illness and their families, and hopefully the recent media attention and awareness of their mission and contribution will make people respond to their call for memberships and support. THis is particularly important in this times when state funding for mental health services continues to fall to the point of dramatically compromising serivces normally provided by state funded programs and institutions.
Way to go NAMI Southern Arizona
April 5th, 2010 on 9:34 am
My daughter, who has a mental illness has previously participated in the “walk”; she suffered a relapse after 7 years since her diagnosis, 2 months prior to this walk , so she did not participate this year. We are so very thankful for NAMI in Sierra Vista and all those involved in her treatment and therapy! God Bless her Psychiatrist, therapists and those who work for NAMI!!!
April 5th, 2010 on 4:13 pm
I’m sorry to hear about your daughter and hope she is well on her way to recovery by now.