(Spirit Lake)– An event Saturday, August 26th in Spirit Lake will put a spotlight on mental health. The Iowa Great Lakes Rotary Club and Dickinson County Behavioral Health Coalition will hold a “Move For Mental Health” walk beginning at 8:00 that morning at the Ta Tonka Ska Trace Trailhead in Spirit Lake. Kathy Fahy of the Iowa Great Lakes Rotary Club says mental health awareness is one of that organization’s primary missions…
“Not only is mental health a focus this year for Rotary International as a whole, it’s also something that we as a local club thought that if we could pull something together to help bring some curriculum and speakers to our local schools. We know that our teachers have been asking for some additional, you know, more proactive things to do and we thought that this is one way that our local Rotary club could make a difference in our community.”
Fahy says there will be three different lengths of walks with teams consisting of four members each…
“We encourage the teams if they want to dress up or have team names, they are welcome to. It’s not required. By doing this and by registering by this Thursday, the 17th, we’re able to guarantee that every participant will also get a walk t-shirt that day.”
She says the cost depends on which walk your team selects…
“We have three different levels. So for the 2.5K it is $80 a team, so that’s basically $20 a person. For the 5K it’s $100 a team and for the half marathon or 13 mile walk it’s $120 per team.”
Fahy says the proceeds will go to help match a grant the Iowa Great Lakes Rotary Club has been awarded…
“Our Rotary club did receive a $5,000 grant from the regional Rotary district to put towards curriculum and speakers for behavioral health in our county. And so our goal is to raise funds to match that so that we can not just do this once or twice, but we’re hoping to do a series of speakers to bring in for multiple age levels.”
You can find more information and pre-register for the “Move For Mental Health” walk at IowaGreatLakesRotary.org.
