I am a member of the SpeakUp Race Team and am raising money for the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation (CKG), whose mission is to cultivate awareness and understanding of teenage depression and anxiety.
Cameron Gallagher was a bright and talented teenager. Although ever-smiling, she faced her own personal battles with depression and anxiety. She began to grow weary of keeping her struggles a private battle, and knew that there were many teens just like her who were in great pain behind closed doors. Her dream was to create a 5k race in her community to raise awareness of teenage depression. She began making plans for the race, and titled the race the SpeakUp5k in order to draw attention to the issue of teen depression. She wanted to let other teens like herself know that it was okay to “SpeakUp” about their personal battles.
During this time, Cameron also set a personal goal for herself and began training for the Shamrock Half Marathon. On March 16, 2014, sixteen-year-old Cameron completed her goal of finishing the race, and passed away suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition after crossing the finish line. My husband and I were in Virginia Beach that weekend and heard about Cameron on the way home. Four years later I was introduced to CKG through Synapse, a networking group that partners with non-profits and joined the race team as a fundraiser. I donate a $1 per mile that I run and hope that you will donate, too.
The funds raised allow the CKG to partner with local schools and mental health professionals to implement prevention-based programs and curricula, providing education and initiating conversations among teens regarding depression and anxiety.
The power of donations to support CKG's free teen programming:
· $25 = Mindful Mondays for 1 adolescent for 1 month
· $100 = Peer support curriculum supplies for 1 school
· $500 = Mindful Schools certification for 1 staff member
· $1,000 = Certified-Young Adult Professional Speaker for 1 school
· $3,000 = CKG Mental Wellness comprehensive program delivery for 1 school
Please consider a donation to help further the important work of de-stigmatizing mental health and teaching our youth that it's OK to "SpeakUp" about their personal battles.
Thank you!
