No one should walk alone.

A brief message in support of mental health services in underserved communities.

Hi! Thank you for subscribing to The Action Cookbook Newsletter. This is a break from my normal offerings, but one that I’m doing for very important reasons. I hope that you’ll understand, and trust that this is not something I do often.

I’ll be right back to normal content tomorrow for full subscribers, and next week for everyone else. I appreciate your continued support!

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To say that 2020 has been a challenging year would be to both state the patently obvious and fail to convey the true depth of it. The pandemic and its secondary impacts have robbed people of loved ones, jobs, routines, social structures, and in many cases, hope. Even the most fortunate among us have see our lives upended in dramatic fashion, and the impacts are being felt much more broadly than the official numbers would suggest.

Recent studies have shown a sharp increase in the rate of people showing signs of clinical depression and anxiety, as well as the number of young people who have considered suicide. This is a public health crisis in its own right, and one that no one should be forced to face alone. We have made great strides as a society in recent years in broadening the public’s understanding of mental health and de-stigmatizing the need many of us have to seek help, but these advances have not necessarily made those services more accessible, especially to people facing financial hardship and job loss.

For the last four years, I have sat on the board of directors of a non-profit mental health organization whose mission and impact I believe in very strongly. Personal Counseling Service is an organization based in Clarksville, Indiana, just over the river from Louisville, Kentucky. PCS provides mental health and counseling services to a population that’s primarily youth and largely uninsured or under-insured. Our clients include abused women and children, veterans, families, couples, individuals that have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bi-polar, individuals on the autism spectrum, and people with developmental disorders and behavioral or addiction issues.

67% of the clients we help are children and adolescents, and 57% of those we serve are at or below the federal poverty level. Our ongoing national crisis has impacted these communities disproportionately, as our clients and their families are statistically much more likely have suffered job loss or other financial hardship in the past six months.

At the same time, it is a more challenging environment than ever for non-profit fundraising, with many individual and small business donors forced to draw back their contributions. Our biggest annual fundraiser, a dinner that provides a large portion of our funding, was cancelled due to the inability to safely hold large gatherings this year.

We are a small organization with a big impact on people’s lives, providing talk therapy, music therapy, addiction counseling and a wide range of other important services. While PCS has been serving the Kentuckiana community for over 60 years, this is an organization where every dollar matters, where every donation can make a real impact on someone’s life no matter how large or small.

I’m reaching out now because today is Give For Good Louisville, an annual one-day, community-wide fundraising event run by the Community Foundation of Louisville where nonprofits all over the city are granted access to matching funds for reaching a variety of fundraising goals. The event runs from midnight to midnight Eastern Time, and there are a wide variety of matching opportunities offered throughout the day based on the number, size and variety of donations we receive.

There is no single day when donations can have a greater impact.

If you are at all able, please consider making a donation to Personal Counseling Service today:

I know it is a difficult time to be asking for money, and I would not do it if I did not believe deeply in this organization and acutely understand its needs. If you are not able to give today, know that I understand and appreciate your attention all the same. Please consider sharing this message.

Thank you for listening to this appeal today. This is not something I will do often, but I am grateful for whatever support you can provide. Have a wonderful day.

— Scott Hines (@actioncookbook)