Advocacy Committee Meets Congressman John Linder - NAMI

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Dinner at NAMI Meetings
The hospitality committee voted to ask board members if NAMI Gwinnett would fund
providing deli style meals before our monthly General Meetings. The board unanimously
voted to fund this. Starting at our May meeting, everyone can plan on having their meal at
the meeting instead of trying to grab a quick meal at home before the meeting. This will be
available for the membership and guests at 7pm so we can have fellowship and eat before
the meeting begins. Marilyn, Daryl, or Debbie will continue calling folks on our phone tree
list and ask some to bring desserts or soft drinks. Furthermore, we will have a contribution
basket on our food table for donations to offset the cost of the next month’s meal. Moreover,
if we receive enough donations, we can provide more food for the next meeting.
The committee asked the board for and obtained funds to continue door prizes at the NAMI
meetings. This is a fun addition to our meeting; shaking up the serious issues we must deal
with on a daily basis when dealing with brain disorders.
Additionally, the hospitality committee discussed NAMI Facilitators and Support Meetings.
Deanne Beaton and I will travel to St. Louis the end of April to receive State Facilitator
Training. This will allow us to not only facilitate support groups at our NAMI meetings, but
we will train other people to facilitate support meetings as well. NAMI Gwinnett and NAMI
State are sharing the expense of this trip. Deanne and I will hold facilitator training classes
for Gwinnett members as well as other affiliate members in Georgia. This will allow our
group and other groups to carry out support meetings that are so desperately needed by so
many.
The next Hospitality Committee meeting will be May 2 at 6:30 – before the NAMI Meeting.
Please consider joining us! Article written by Lori Spencer
Advocacy Committee Update
The Advocacy Committee is officially up and running, with the first meeting being held in
January 2006. The Advocacy Committee was set up to educate and build awareness in the
community about issues relating to mental health, as well as to be a voice in the legislative
process for those affected by mental illness. With Samuel Rapier as chairman, we met to
discuss ideas and choose a focus for the coming months. The group felt that being active in
legislation at the local level, as well as supporting grassroots efforts within our county was
most important. In January we met with John Linder, our Congressman, at a town hall
meeting to discuss our concerns about the plight of community mental health. We are
planning to visit local high schools to give speeches on our personal experience with mental
disorders as well as open a “question and answer” session for the students. Conducting
discussion panels for members of our local churches, as well as other activities in the faith
community are also being planned. The coming months will be busy for the Advocacy
Committee. We continue to be involved in organization-wide activities, such as CIT and
BellSouth Classic. For those who are interested in supporting our efforts, our meetings are
on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm at Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church.
Article written by Jennifer Garrison, Committee Member