Steffens Park to host fundraiser for mental health nonprofit

FRASER — The city of Fraser will host a fundraiser to support the Know Resolve nonprofit and its mission of raising awareness of mental health issues.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, in Steffens Park, 33000 Garfield Road. Jake Rice, a member of the Fraser Recreation Commission, is helping organize it.

“We’re working with a nonprofit called Know Resolve. They focus on teen suicide, mental health and grieving support for families,” he said. “This is my first ever fundraiser I’ve ever put together. I’m a commissioner with parks and rec in Fraser. Growing up, I lost my dad in high school. I dealt with mental health issues as a kid. When I was younger, I went to Know Resolve classes, so this is sort of full circle for me. I started coaching basketball at Fraser High School and I saw they didn’t have anyone to talk to even though they have things going on in their life, so it inspired me to do something.”

Know Resolve, which serves teens in Macomb County, promotes programs in schools and operates programs where teens can come and seek advice or simply socialize away from pressures they may be feeling from friends, family and school.

“Suicide still has a really high rate among teenagers. There needs to be an area where they can be themselves and not have adults telling them how they should act or respond to something. It’s about what they need, not what we think they need,” said Nichole McGlory, the secretary-treasurer of Know Resolve. “We want a place where students dealing with mental health crises or thoughts of suicide come and decompress, talk about it with like-minded people and seem help or just have some fun.”

McGlory began working on the fundraising event since Rice and her husband are friends.

“We were talking while he was over about Know Resolve,” she said. “He was expressing how he was interested in starting a fundraising opportunity. He wanted to start an event and it took off from there.”

Rice said that he thought it was imperative to support positive mental health efforts in the community.

“Everybody is or knows someone who is dealing with mental health issues,” he said. “It’s a day for people to come together and enjoy themselves to maybe see what is going on with the community and maybe with yourself. … You don’t realize how many people deal with mental health, so I really want to raise awareness.”

Rice added that there should be some fun attractions at the fundraiser as well as some useful information for those who are struggling or know a young person who is.

“We have food trucks, we have bounce houses for the kids, games, a DJ, some sports equipment and I am trying to get therapy dogs to come.”

The funds from the event will support Know Resolve’s programming.

“For every dollar that comes in through fundraising, 88 cents of that dollar will go toward putting programs into schools,” said McGlory. “We have the Detour Project in six middle and high schools. It’s a way for students to express themselves in different art forms, whether it’s painting, drawing, multimedia and so forth. We also have free programs in our building, which we call ‘The Shed.’ Right now, we have group therapy talks, a social worker on-site as a volunteer, games and opportunities to share. We just opened back up this month.”

“We’re giving a percentage of the money from the food trucks to Know Resolve,” added Rice. “There will be pumpkin painting and the cost people pay for the pumpkins will go toward them as well, as will the money from our shirt sales. Any other donations are also welcome.”

McGlory hopes that Fraser community members will continue to not only reach out to Know Resolve, but to support their efforts and to seek help.

“We are located at 23 Mile Road and Schoenherr Road,” she said. “Teens can reach out to us by calling (877) 228-9550. We will have a 5K walk at Dakota High School in October and a big benefit dinner at the Mirage banquet center, called ‘Breaking the Silence’ if people want to support us.”