MHDAS Board Awards Mini Grants in the Community

The Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services (MHDAS) Board awarded eight mini-grants to Logan and Champaign County community organizations for fiscal year 2019. The grants were awarded for programs that promote a greater awareness of mental health and substance abuse prevention in the two counties. The grant applications were reviewed by a 6 member committee representing both counties and supported by MHDAS Board staff, Stacey Logwood and Adam Sorensen. A total of $18,000 was awarded. 
 
The Review Committee is composed of the following individuals representing Logan and Champaign Counties:
Ann Vogel, MHDAS Board Member
Steve Terrill, MHDAS Board Member
Robert Dean, MHDAS Board Member
Pete Floyd, MHDAS Board Member
Emily Smith, MHDAS Board Member
Reuben Mees, MHDAS Board Member
 
The organizations chosen to receive a grant were:
 
Bellefontaine Middle School Health Team:  Their mini-grant is for “BMS Goes Bananas (and lots of other fruits and vegetables). Students will have to opportunity to attending hands on classes where they will learn to make foods they can prepare themselves. Students will also have the opportunity to bring their parents to a class where they will work together to make dinner using recipes that use healthy ingredients.
 
LoCo Art:  Their project is titled “Public Beautification Mural Project”. LoCo Art intends to partner with The Mary Rutan Foundation, MHDAS Board and The Logan County Family to focus the creative efforts on the creation of a public art and beautification project with Mental Health as a central theme. This project will consist of a guest artist coming to Logan County to lead at-risk-youth in the creation of a mural.
 
Off The Rails CrossFit:  Their mini-grant is for a “Community Engagement and Personal Development of Veterans and First Responders”. The main focus of this project is to provide much needed support to our local veterans and first responders. A support animal will be licensed and trained then brought to the facility to provide on-site and off-site support to these individuals. The benefits of the support animal will increase mental well-being, encourage emotional health and physical fitness, improve relationships and so much more. The project will also cover the cost of an annual membership to 3 local veterans and/or first responders, which includes in and out of gym events, gym phone app and many more benefits.
 
The Champaign County Early Childhood Collaborative Committee:  Their mini-grant is for “DECA Initiative”. This Initiative will pay for two people to be trained in the DECA’s, which is an assessment tool to identify key social and emotional strengths and planning resources to provide caregivers and parents with research-based strategies to promote resilience in young children. This will also include a DECA-C, has all the same features as DECA, but also assesses social and emotional concerns and is appropriate for children 2 through 5. These individuals will be able to connect the child/families to the proper services and resources.
 
Champaign County Children’s Literacy Foundation:  The project is called “Early Childhood: Family Engagement Asset Activities and Games for Mentoring Program”. This project will create 3 different activities and include a list of the 40 Developmental Assets. The activities will have instructions and ideas for practicing with child. These activities will focus on family engagement, literacy, positive family communication, family support, reading for fun and creative ideas.
 
Mechanicsburg for a Healthy Community:  This organization will be providing an event that highlights the positive efforts of people in Recovery that live in Mechanicsburg. During the Christmas in the Village they will be providing live music at the coffee shop, testimonials from people in recovery, coffee and non-alcoholic beverages, baked goods and informational materials.
 
West Liberty-Salem High School Key Club:  Their event is titled “Welcome Back Luncheon for ’17 and ’18 Graduates”, which will invite the graduates of the 2017 and 2018 classes to return for a luncheon. This will give these post-graduates an opportunity to reconnect and facilitate healing to those effected by the tragic event of January 20th, 2017. WLS want their post-graduates and all students to feel comfortable with their alma mater and send the message that they care about them and their healing journey.