This year the Flawless Foundation is bursting with thanks for the remarkable support and encouragement that we have received from all of you. We have made amazing progress for a young organization. All that I am about to share is a direct result of your involvement.
We are thrilled and thankful to have had the opportunity to meet and discuss topics in mental health with top leaders and activists in the field, including Garen and Shari Staglin (founders of the International Mental Health Research Organization), Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison (renowned psychologist and the author of An Unquiet Mind, which documents her own life living and coping with bipolar disorder), Dr. Thomas R. Insel (director of National Institute of Mental Health), and Glenn Close (mental health activist and founder of Bring Change 2 Mind).
Just last week we confirmed Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy as the Honorary Chair of our Perfection Party scheduled for April 9th in New York City (invitations are coming soon). Rep. Kennedy leads what has become an all-star cast of honorees, including J. Stuart Ablon, Phd, Harold S. Koplewicz M.D., Shonda Schilling, and the Staglins. Lisa Bloom, the well-known civil rights activist, author and legal analyst, is also joining us to moderate our panel discussion with our honorees.
Now you can start to see why we are not just thanks giving, but thanks BURSTING!
But wait….there’s more! This year, the Flawless Foundation had the opportunity to serve and train thousands of mental health professionals. Our video interview with Dr. Ablon has been viewed by over 5,500 people, and we have continued to share the healing gifts of yoga with 75 children and their caregivers every week. We are so grateful that our programs are enabling children and families living with mental health challenges to recognize the perfection in themselves.
The Flawless message of love, acceptance, understanding and care for those with brain disorders is unique—and it’s spreading like wildfire. The effectiveness of our work is evidenced by our receiving the Excellence in Special Education Award from the National Association of Special Education Teachers—the highest honor that NASET offers.
Special thanks as well to our Friends of Flawless Committee for helping to make our fundraising efforts go viral so quickly. And, of course, thanks to our corporate sponsor and board member, Alice McCarney of Alice Hair, for funding another season of our therapeutic gardening program in honor of her brother, Seanog.
The Flawless Foundation has the unique privilege of every day serving our community of children. This holiday season we are delivering food for Thanksgiving dinner to feed 300 people at our pilot site in Oregon—this truly is one of the most magical days we have each year. A special thank you to Burlington Tower for administering this dinner’s food drive.
A thank you message would never be complete without a special thanks and love for my family, who sustain me and are the inspiration for it all.
To all of you—every donor, every morale-booster, every volunteer, every staff member in New York City and Portland, and to each and every member of our amazing Board of Directors—THANK YOU. It is you who are truly Flawless.
Wishing you and your families a Flawless Thanksgiving,
Janine
