Hey Guys.......

[Steve]

If you take a look at the banner ad on the top of the forum list page, you will see that Basil is doing a charity walk and needs some sponsorship. He's getting close to his target of $1,500 but new sponsors have stalled for the past couple of days.

Now, Basil is too much of a class act to push this, so I am doing it on his behalf. I contributed $15, or 1% of the total that he needs. I reckoned that if each active member contributes at least that amount we should do very nicely indeed. Others have contributed more than I have. Yes, times are tough, but $15 is not that much. I have been without a job since August, but I figure that the beneficiaries of this walk are worse off than me in other ways, and they could use the help.

So please, if you haven' already, click on the banner, contribute even a little, and let's do the BCF, Basil, and especially the intended beneficiaries, proud! Can we beat that $1,500 target?!?!?!?

 

[Brosky]

Thanks for point that out Steve. I been consumed on a house project and never even noticed it. I supported Basil's efforts last year and will do so again this year. Right now, as a matter of fact.

 

[Steve]

:thumbsup: Thanks Paul! With causes such as this, I always think "There but for the grace of God......." and try to support them accordingly, no matter how little.

 

[Steve]

Nearly there now...... Two Hundred and change and we'll help Basil reach his target.

 

[Basil]

I greatly appreciate all of the generosity thus far! Mary and I and our "British Car Forum" page are just part of a larger team, the "Family-2-Family Flyers." Our Team Captain is Laura Hand, who is our local NAMI Director. If you click on the Family-2-Family Flyers link near the upper left part of my NAMIWAlks page, it will take you to our Team's main page. You will see that our Team's overall goal is $5000 and, as of <span style="text-decoration: underline">this</span> post we are 65% there! Our goal for our part is $1500 and we are getting very close to that goal (I hope we beat it soundly). You will also notice that we (the British Car Forum community) are leading the pack for the Family-2-Family team - THANKS!

For too many years, there has been an unfortunate (and unfair IMHO) stigma attached to Mental Illness. For years it was something only talked about behind closed doors and in hushed voices. This stigma is born of ignorance. Although we are making great strides in the right direction we, as a society, still have a long way to go in recognizing and treating Mental Illness as a true illness in the same way that we view so many other illnesses. Hollywood and Television have long made jokes about mental illness. When Bea Arthur died, someone recounted an episode of All in the Family in which she made a walk on appearance and when she saw Archie said, "Well hello Archie - still fighting mental health I see." Why did the writers think that was funny? Why did "we" think it was funny? Because society didn't (and to a large degree still doesn't) view Mental Illnesses as "real" illnesses. But we now know much more than we did then about the physiology of the brain. We know now that the various Brain Disorders that people suffer are just as real as any other illness - they just happen to affect the organ that affects thought and mood and behavior. Think about this - would Bea Arthur's crack about Archie have been as funny if she had made a wise-cracking reference to Aids, or Cancer, or Muscular Dystrophy? Of course not - it would have hit the ground with a well-deserved thud! But Mental Illness is still not viewed with the same societal compassion as other so-called "real" diseases. This is one reason why Mary and I are actively involved with NAMI - to do our part to chance those misguided perceptions.

I have tried very hard in this post to keep my political and ideological views out of the discussion (and let's keep it that way). But regardless of one's politics or ideology, I think most would agree that we have a long way to go in how we view and care for those among us who suffer (very often silently) with Mental Illness. NAMI is in the forefront of advocating for those affected with Mental Illness and their families and your support is appreciated more than words can express.

If you made it this far in my tome, thanks for listening.

 

[14dna]

Basil;

Thanks for taking the time to help this cause.
And thank you for saying your peace about this disease.
If anyone has the right to speak his mind here it is you!
Good Luck with your goal and the cause.

Dave, Annie and girls

 

[judow]

All of us. We have all been touched by mental illness directly or indirectly and to accept it as an illness is the first step in finding a cure. NAMi is to be applauded and our support is what they need!

 

[Basil]

We have reached our goal for British Car Forum, but our overall team still has a ways to go. While the British Car Forum goal has been met, our overall Family-2-Family Team Goal still needs help, so I'm hoping that we not only meet our BCF goal. but beat it by a good measure so that our F-2F TEam goal is met or exceeded!

Many thanks to all who have helped thus far. I know that we all can't support every worthy cause out there. I also know that in these economic times we often have to pick and choose what we can support, so I really do appreciate all the support for our NAMIWalks09 effort this year!

 

[Basil]

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the 5-mile NAMI Walks for America. Still time to sponsor our Team! While my personal page has met our sub-goal ($1500), the Team I'm supporting (Family-2-Family Flyers) is still about 20% away from the overall team goal of $5000, so any donations made to my page will also help our overall Team Goal. So if you'd like to support a very worthy cause, just click on the NAMI Banner that is above the forums list on the forum summary page.

Cheers,
Basil

 

[DNK]

Basil forgot to add to my donation. If the walk isn't done under 15 minutes the money goes up in flames like a Mission Impossible deal..