Last year I had the pleasure of attending a fund-raiser that was put on by a 15 year old to bring awareness to Mental Illness for a 10th grade project.  At that time she had recently been diagnosed with depression.  This young lady has a beautiful heart, she is impulsive, funny, a little bit crazy, very outgoing and energetic. When looking at her you would say, no way, she isn’t depressed.  That isn’t how mental illness’s works though.You can’t tell by looking at someone if they have a mental illness.  So many people hide it because of the stigma, because people don’t understand, because it hurts when people don’t take you seriously. Those that are struggling, like Emma, spend time alone crying and finding it hard to get out of bed. Not every day, but enough where it makes like hard.

I told Emma last year that if she wanted to take her school project into an annual event that I would be honored to assist her.  She took me up on the challenge and we are in the planning stages of getting the second MN Singing with Smiles event underway.

We are raising money that will go to NAMI to help raise awareness for Mental Illness. Our goal is $4000 this year.  We are collecting donations for a raffle, a silent auction, food, etc. I am very excited about the team we are putting together and the information we are sharing.