We were honored to have our Board of Directors, business leaders within our community, family and friends attend a very special kickoff event on June 13, 2013 for our organization dedicated to helping people impacted by both mental illness and addictive disorders. As leaders in the community, it is their involvement in this most worthy project that fills an unmet need that will literally save lives.
We were happy to be able to educate everyone that attended about the parts of our Mission:
- Providing financial and clinical resources to individuals from our community who are affected by mental illness and addictive disorders and are desperately seeking treatment that they cannot afford.
- Educating individuals, their families and community at large through town hall meetings, symposia, lectures on prevention and the advances made in the understanding of mental illnesses and addictive disorders. The newer treatments allow both symptoms to be treated with minimum disruption to work and family.
- Reducing and eventually eliminating the stigma associated with mental illness and addictive disorders through scientific treatments that allow patients to lead healthy, normal and productive lives through long-term sustained recovery.
- Helping our returning servicemen impacted by PTSD who out of desperation self-medicate the problem with drugs and alcohol. It is estimated that out of the 140,000 Missourian deployed to combat, 22,000 are projected to have PTSD, 9,000 suicidal ideations and 26,000 have probably suffered from traumatic brain injury.
We would like to extend several very special thank you’s:
- To our emcees for this event: Jamie Allman, host of the Allman in the Morning on NewsTalk 97.1 FM and special guest Dave Glover from The Dave Glover Show on NewsTalk 97.1 FM. Your involvement in Our Cause is very important and we appreciate the attention you have given to our organization.
- To all of those willing to share their stories about either being a patient or being a family member of someone going through either the pain, the sorrow and yes the joy of successful recovery. Your stories will help to make an impact towards the changes that we need to make in our communities. We appreciate you helping us start off a very serious conversation that we hope to spread across the nation.
- To the Missouri Athletic Club for putting together a very elegant evening that went off without a hitch. We look forward to working with your organization for future events.
We were able to raise over $25,000 from this event, which will go towards implementing our Vision of:
- Helping our brave servicemen and women who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which many times leads to alcohol and drug addiction;
- Assisting indigent individuals that have the need and will to get better by assisting them with the rising costs of recovery; and,
- Bringing a change to the stigma of mental health and addictions, educating our communities about the scientific, evidence based treatments that are available that lead to a more successful recovery process.
We thank everyone that was able to attend our Kickoff Dinner and look forward to seeing you again with the rest of our support base at our future events that are in the works:
- Black Tie and Silent Auction
- A Golf Tournament and Dinner
- An Education Symposium on the Science of Addiction
- A 5K Walk/Run Supporting Research for Mental Health and Addictive Disorders
If you would like to learn more about upcoming events or request information about available sponsorships that will be available for these events, please contact us through our Contact Page.
