Events

MINDS Funky Fresh Fashion Show

Come and cheer over 100 top level executives gettin' Funky Fresh on the runway! This charity fashion show will feature 100 locals modeling their own clothing to upbeat music. Hors d'oeuvres will be served from 6-7pm. Handicapped accessible parking is available near and around the venue. Children (under 3 years free) and people of all ages invited. Tax deductible tickets are $100 each and may be purchased by contacting MINDS at the number listed below or online at www.mindsprogram.org. MINDS accepts cash, check, PayPal, MasterCard and Visa.

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 - 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

The Atheneum Suite Hotel, International Ballroom
1000 Brush Street
Detroit, MI

Call Yvonne Blackmond at MINDS for information at (248) 644-8003

MODELS: TBA

No Tickets will be mailed, all guests will check in at the reception table

*MINDS is a 501(c)3 non-profit. All donations are tax deductible.

2008 Alternative  Christmas Fair

Saturday, November 15th, 2008 - 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Hope Lutheran Church
39200 W. Twelve Mile Road (just east of Haggerty)
Farmington Hills, MI 248/553-7170

Admission - $1.00

MEANINGFUL GIFTS FOR A MEANING-FILLED SEASON

MINDS will be hosting a table selling italian charm bracelets, rice bags and "cuddles" blankies. We will also have a professional photographer taking holiday photos in front of a back drop and the photo CD is only $10.

2008 Thanksgiving Day Parade

Legends & Lollipops

Thursday, November 27th, 2008 - 10:00 AM

Everybody loves a parade.  That very notion motivated Heather Irish, President and Founder of The MINDS (Mental Illness Needs Discussion Sessions) Program, to commission the nations first ever parade float highlighting mental health.  The Parade provides the perfect backdrop for shining light on the serious issue of mental health, something that touches almost every family in some way, says Irish.

It has been said that our parade tells the story of America and MINDS has a great story to tell.  In its first year, MINDS reached out to 500 area high school students with hour and a half long interactive sessions that shared facts about mental health.  Today, MINDS reaches over 20,000 annually with its messages of hope, help and recovery.

MINDS is dedicated to erasing the stigma and shame associated with mental illness and was created ten years ago in honor of Heather Irish's grandmother Doris who suffered with Schizophrenia.  According to Ms. Irish, The Shining Light on Mental Health float is a fun way to bring the serious issue of mental health out of the darkness of night and into the light of day.

In the days preceding the float debut, MINDS sponsored an essay contest to allow Michigan students to tell their own stories about experiences with mental illness, suggestions for how schools may help students understand mental illness and what they think people should know about mental illness.  Emerging from the 175 authors, the winning essay writer won an exclusive ride on the Shining Light on Mental Illness float as well as $100.  The float banner carriers are the second and third place winners.

Through the simplicity of an imaginative and whimsical parade float, the MINDS program hopes to highlight the need to peel away the stigma associated with mental illness.  By shining the light on mental health, the MINDS float may help us discover that each of our lives have been touched by someone with mental illness.  And we all just may be more willing to reach out to each other in understanding and to tell our own stories without shame or embarrassment.

Don't miss the energy fueling the nation's first ever float highlighting mental health as almost fifty volunteers both young and old share their commitment to erasing the stigma surrounding mental health discussions.  They will be dancing their way down Woodward Avenue as the MINDS float, Shining Light on Mental Illness, makes its debut Thanksgiving morning in America's Thanksgiving Parade.