Bruce Power is donating a total of $23,000 to the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Grey Bruce branch for its Friends and Neighbours Club, Men’s Group and Ride Don’t Hide event, as part of its #BreakTheSilence campaign. From left are April Robinson, Fundraising & Event Coordinator; Joachim Ostertag, Program Manager of the Men’s Program; Jackie Ralph, Youth Awareness - FAN Club and Let's Talk program coordinator; Claude Anderson, Executive Director of the CMHA; and Christine John, Communications Specialist, Bruce Power. A total of $84,000 was donated to local mental health initiatives as part of the second annual #BreakTheSilence social media day.
Members of the community came through in a big way for local mental health initiatives during Bruce Power’s second annual #BreakTheSilence social media campaign.
Through thousands of shares through Twitter and Facebook #BreakTheSilence from across Canada people showed their support for starting the conversation and ending the stigma around mental health. Supporters included City TV’s Kevin Frankish, The Honourable Glenn Thibeault, Ontario Minister of Energy, MPP (Sudbury), The Honourable Tracy MacCharles, Ontario Minister of Government and Consumer Services, MPP (Pickering—Scarborough East), The Honourable Laura Albanese, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, MPP (York South—Weston), The Honourable Helena Jaczek, Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services, MPP (Oak Ridges—Markham), The Honourable Kevin Daniel Flynn, Ontario Minister of Citizenship, MPP (Oakville), Lisa Thompson, MPP (Huron - Bruce), Bill Walker, MPP (Bruce – Grey – Owen Sound), Ben Lobb, MP (Huron Bruce) and Larry Miller, MP (Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound)
MPP Bill Walker spoke about the campaign in the Ontario Legislature on May 4.
In turn, Bruce Power donated $84,000 to local mental health initiatives that will support community members who live with mental illness. The recipients include $25,000 to the Westover Treatment Centre's Recovery Support Program which helps people overcome addiction and other issues, $25,000 to Wounded Warriors, $23,000 to the Canadian Mental Health Association's Grey Bruce branch for its Friends and Neighbours Club, Men's Group and Ride Don't Hide event; and $11,000 to the We CARE Share event.
"Our annual Break the Silence awareness campaign may be over but we hope the dialogue created today continues," said Cathy Sprague, Bruce Power's Executive Vice President, Human Resources. "The interactions we saw online today show how important speaking about mental health issues is. Let's all continue this dialogue between family members, friends and colleagues and break the silence around mental illness."
In one day, the social media campaign saw an estimated 10,000 tweets and nearly 10,000 Facebook shares.
