10/29/2026
Happy Thursday! The trees are giving us a show slow but sure-bet the rain will make it better?
This page was created for a charity event my husband and I began pre Covid that we named “It’s a Racquet”. This was a name we had used for an annual holiday party we had joining his racquetball folks and my tennis folks. In the year 2017, we had come through some traumatic health issues and suddenly a teen su***de epidemic began with 2 girls from ONWHS. We were all shocked and horrified…And so much so that I didn’t feel like celebrating anything without somehow helping the community….
I called our boys’ high school to see what they thought we could do or organize to help but was quickly turned away. They clearly didn’t have enough insight or a plan in place at that time.
Frustrated I kept thinking and decided we needed to make our annual event more charity based and started hunting for the right place to give to-to help raise awareness. We landed with Johnson County Mental Health-their private subdivision (can’t donate to a publicly funded org.) called Friends of JCMH which made it easier. We added NAMI KS as well who was fabulous to work with and more of a national grass roots organization.
Finding event space in the winter was tricky although 2 of our prestigious tennis clubs were generous (scheduling during non youth tournament wkds was hard lol), but we did it and raised over $17k in 3 years-adding NAMI to the mix during one of those years.
Then Covid.
I continue with mental health reposts on here because it’s crucial to continue with our development of our vocabulary. How we perceive traumas and conditions, the inCREDible free resources we have had for the last 10 years and how we are going to promote mental healthcare as part of our physical health, regularly.
Congratulations to everyone who works at their own mental awareness and health on a regular basis. And the wisdom to know it takes a village.
