On Sunday, the Community House in Hinsdale hosted its 14th annual Walk the Walk to advocate for funding toward mental health services.
While masks were encouraged, the in-person event was a welcome change from last year when the walk was a virtual affair with interested participants and donors walking solo.
The 8 a.m. walk started and ended at the Community House, located at 415 West Eighth Street in Hinsdale, with teams of friends, families and co-workers ‘walking a mile for mental health.’
Dan Janowick, Executive Director of the Community House, said the pandemic has made it clear that mental health services require adequate funding and exposure.
“What we know is that the pandemic didn’t create exclusively mental health issues,” he said. “But what the pandemic did was magnify and multiply so many of those existing issues.”
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The community based nonprofit enforces a ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ mentality with the majority of donors and walk participants from Hinsdale and its neighboring DuPage County towns.
“We’re essentially helping people in their own backyard,” said Janowick.
According to Janowick, when people make donations to start teams and register for the walk, they’re directly helping offset the costs of services offered by the organization.
“Regardless of someone’s ability to pay, we’re still able to provide services and that’s where the fundraising comes in,” he added.
Around 200 participants registered for the walk as organizers shortened the route from a 5K to a mile and a half and eliminated the post-race party to minimize time spent in close contact.
Janowick hopes with increased attention on mental health services, discussing personal struggles will become part of the norm.
“It’s Important for people to recognize that its OK to ask for help,” he said. “It’s OK to have down days and the reality is that everybody in their life is going to go through periods of stress, anxiety, grief, loss and things like that, and that’s normal and it’s OK to talk about.”