NAMI NW Walk

Dear NAMI supporters,

Thanks again for all of your work! Our walk has raised more than $171,000 – and there’s still time to help us reach our goal of $200,000!

As a thank you for helping out, we’re going to hold a drawing for an Amazon Kindle. For every $50 a walker raises or donates from today until July 22 – the last day we’re accepting walk donations – they will get an entry in the drawing.

So for instance, if a walker raises $100 between now and July 22, they will get two chances to win the Kindle. The drawing will be held July 23. We are accepting donations both on the walk web site and via snail mail. Please send checks to NAMI Oregon, Attn. NAMINW Walk, 4701 SE 24th Ave., Suite E, Portland, OR, 97202.

Please note which team/NAMI affiliate you would like to support.

Thanks for a fantastic walk! 2,163 of you walked to help us fulfill our mission of improving the lives of individuals living with mental illness, and their loved ones. Special thanks to our event volunteers, sponsors and team captains, and the Portland Police Bureau!

We are still counting money from walk day and will update the walk web site, as well as send out an e-mail, when we have a total. We will be accepting walk donations online and via snail mail until July 22.

Please mail checks to NAMI Oregon, Attn: NAMI NW Walk, 4701 SE 24th Ave., Suite E, Portland, OR, 97202.

I walk because of the devastating impact that misinformation and lack of resources can have on someone who is holding on to a fragile balance. I walk for my friend Brenda who suffered with the pain and confusion of Borderline Personality Disorder since she was a pre-teen. Her family and church did not recognize her as ill, nor did they understand her struggle. So the “problem” child stuffed everything inside and moved away from the very people she needed most.

Brenda was intelligent, funny and an enjoyable co-worker. She was also an expert at hiding the pain she did not understand. She was embarrassed and feared what people would think of her if they knew her constant dark thoughts and how badly she felt she was handling life.  After she experienced a psychotic break, she found it difficult to connect to resources to help her manage her life and get the treatment she needed. She was still fragile and confused and was left alone to navigate complex systems to find the resources to survive. What do you do when you are not able to work, don’t qualify for unemployment but the bills keep coming in? How do you get to counseling and classes across town to help you get better when you are heavily medicated and can’t drive?  And, how do you pay for those prescriptions, classes and counseling sessions? Where do you live when your home is no longer a safe place for you to be? How can you handle all of this when your brain is not cooperating?

Friends stepped up to help her connect with resources and after at least 25 years of living with pain, she was finally on the right balance of medication, knew what her illness was and she was learning how to reprogram her thinking patterns. Brenda felt hope and was on a path to recovery.  But a personal disappointment too soon in her recovery overwhelmed her and she ended her life. She was just 35.

Her loss was devastatingly sad. What is even sadder is that her family never did understand that Brenda was ill and not just “the problem daughter;” her church never knew they fed her pain with misinformation about mental illness; and, it was only because she had determined friends—and luck—that she was able to get the help she needed for that brief glimpse of hope and recovery.

I support NAMI and walk for all the Brenda’s, and families, who need understanding, resources and hope.

Won’t you join me?  

Jan McKenzie, executive director, NAMI Clark County, and team captain, Team Clark County

It’s not to late to sign up for the walk – visit the walk web site and help us raise awareness and funds to help people in crisis.

Questions about walk day? Visit our FAQ page.

When I taught my second Family-to-Family class in 1995, a class participant gave me the idea of a parade.  As we discussed advocacy, I pointed out that AIDS had existed for little over a decade at that point, yet there were already very successful nationwide fundraisers, television specials, parades, etc. to combat the diease.  And this was a disease that at the time was considered shameful to have!

By contrast, I said, mental illness has existed for millenia (as far as I know) but we families often feel too embarassed and ashamed to come out of the closet to demand services and understanding.

One of the participants responded, “I want to see 1,000 people marching down Broadway in downtown Portland publicizing mental ilness.”

The NAMI Walk achieves 2,000 people marching on the Esplanade and the waterfront publicizing mental illness.  I don’t know where that guy is today, but I hope he’s reading this.  And I hope he shows up on the 22nd!

– Rosemary Kirwin-Alvord, team captain, Team RK-A

Big thanks to Dave’s Killer Bread for donating 200 loaves of bread on walk day!

If you haven’t signed up yet, visit the walk web site to do so now. Your support will help us raise awareness about mental health and money for NAMI programs, which we offer to individuals living with mental illness, and their families, free of charge.

When I was 15, I began to realize that my dad was struggling with delusions and with paranoia that was beyond his control.  Within a short time my father was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his life, along with mine, began to change.

Within a few short years my dad’s disease progressed until he had lost his job, his home, and his mental health began to rapidly decline.  Within period of time, my aunt, who also had schizophrenia, lost her life due to the disease.  Also around the same time, my older sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and also began struggling with long periods of mania.

I was on the sidelines, watching as their mental illnesses took away the father and sister that I once knew.  Additionally, my siblings and I have struggled with addiction.

In time I found out about NAMI and all of the services offered.  I took the Family-to-Family class and began advocating for and helping my loved ones. At this point in time, I have seen many of the challenges that my family has faced slowly being overcome by access to medications, social security, treatment, and support from those around us that take the time to understand and care.

I am so thankful that I was able to find hope amongst a sea of chaos and confusion.

I walk to support all of those in my family that struggle with the turbulence and instability that mental illness can bring on.  I walk because I love my family, regardless of their mental health status, and I walk in hopes that one day there will be less of  stigma, more understanding and help, and maybe even a cure for these debilitating diseases.

– Abigail Sieler, team member, Butterflies team

I walk because I find strength in sharing the opportunity to raise money for NAMI’s programs promoting recovery very empowering.

I walk because being outdoors is a great way to help people relax and share their stories.  I walk because I love the camaraderie of the teams.

I walk with my son because it allows him to see how many people care about those with mental illness and that he is not alone.

I walk because hope is such a powerful motivator and the walkers give me, my wife, and especially my son hope.

-Vince Salvi, NAMI Oregon board member