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Hello everyone,

At Cops N’Kids, we are very excited and grateful for the funding from the Mars Family Foundation, Fish Tank. As you already know the pandemic hit everyone hard, but education for many children was almost null. Many of the children across Racine County did not have consistent access to internet, technical support, educational services, and family support. They lacked IEP support, tutoring and homework assistance.

This funding helps us do our part in supporting children at our Center who may have fallen behind, need extra time and attention now to meet the requirements for them to be successful in their current grade level. It furthers allows to be able to coach, mentor and tutor children to be able to comeplete assessments and evaluations at their respective schools and move forward alongside their peers who had support systems in place and learning at their expected developmental and age timeframes.

This last year has us all on a learning curve that looks nothing like in years past. Children need us more now than ever before and so we are truly grateful for your funding assistance. The disparity in the children’s gap for those left to their devices verses children with the earliest intervention is vast. On behalf of all of the children we serve, we thank you tremendously for supporting our work and our children.

Our children deserve the best opportunities and because of supporters like you, we can do better together.

Sincerely,

Julia Witherspoon
Founder/Executive Director

NAMI Racine County was delighted to be invited to Fish Tank in January 2023. The opportunity to speak in front of young philanthropists, and network with our fellow nonprofit organizations and generous community members was hugely impactful for our organization.

With one-in-five living with a mental health condition, and five-in-five impacted by these illnesses, the funding received from this event will help us bring hope to so many in the community who often feel alone and silenced by the stigma unfairly surrounding mental illness.

Mars Family Foundation, Stephen Kohl Family, and Fish Tank will have a lasting impact through their support of our peer-led support groups, evidence-based educational opportunities, advocacy efforts, and essential community programs for nursing students, law enforcement, individuals with mental illness, teachers, and family members. These programs help us bring awareness to the impact that mental illness has on an individual, their family and friends, and the community as a whole so no one ever feels alone.

Our organization is deeply grateful for the critical unrestricted funding from the generosity of the young gentlemen on the panel, but we are equally honored to be a part of the philanthropic lessons Mars Family Foundation is facilitating through the Fish Tank events. We are privileged be able to connect with those young men who will grow up to become such leaders in our community. Several of the VIPs took the time to chat with us after the event and offer their valuable perspective so we can improve our youth mental health outreach efforts. Additionally, we were thrilled to form connections with our fellow Racine-area recipients (Cops N’ Kids and Faith, Hope & Love) so hopefully we can grow the nonprofit community as a whole, together.

On behalf of our community, our Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers, thank you for championing our mission and recognizing the positive impact of NAMI Racine County.

Bridget Munson, Executive Director

Sheri Hess, Outreach Coordinator

Courtney Kadolph, Program Coordinator