On July 5, community members joined the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia at the Hugh Bell Lecture Hall at the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth for the Foundation’s 2017-18 Annual General Meeting.
During the meeting, the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia reflected on the success and shared the highlights of 2017-18, while honouring Nova Scotians in the categories of Partners in our Vision, Outstanding Volunteers and Outstanding Achievement.
The Partners in Our Vision Award recognized both the J & W Murphy Foundation and Tim and Bernie Moore for their continued dedication to Changing The Way People Think about mental illness and addiction in our province. The J & W Murphy Foundation supports Camp BELIEVE, The Bright Smiles Project, Let’s Keep Talking and the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia in general. Over the years, Tim and Bernie Moore have provided the Foundation with some of the most popular Festival of Trees raffle and live auction items including Christmas Cash, A Barbados Villa and an Oceanstone Seaside Resort getaway.
The Outstanding Volunteer Award honoured two dedicated Foundation supporters, Sherry Blinkhorn and Paul Hollingsworth. Sherry may be best known as a successful real estate broker in Pictou County, but the Foundation calls her the ‘get it done’ volunteer. Whether she’s being painted green for the Foundation’s PTSD Isn’t Always Born on a Battlefield campaign, speaking at Lunch & Learns, doing media interviews on the Foundations behalf, facilitating a Families Matter in Mental Health session, or accepting donations for the Foundation from schools and groups in her community, she is always here to help. Five years ago, the Foundation asked Paul Hollingsworth (who sits on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees) to emcee its very first Let’s Keep Talking and he has gone on to host all five. The Foundation applauds Paul’s exceptional talents on stage and appreciates his openness and bravery in sharing the story of losing his brother to suicide for the LKT audience each year.
The Outstanding Achievement Award recognized The Emera Eagles (Bruce Marchand, Chris Huskilson, David Landrigan and Mike Roberts) for their outstanding fundraising efforts at this year’s 15th Anniversary Tour of A Different Stage of Mind which took place at the Halifax Convention Centre. The Emera Eagles are the top A Different Stage of Mind fundraisers ever! Their hard work and dedication certainly took it to the limit this year.
The Annual General Meeting featured a moving speech by a young Camp BELIEVE camper named Megan and a performance by recently retired NSHA employee Beth MacPherson.