Businesses, food vendors and community groups are being invited to help power mental health support in west central Illinois.<\/p>\n
The National Alliance on Mental Illness West Central Illinois<\/a> is scheduled to host its inaugural NAMIWalks<\/a> event at Community Park in Jacksonville Oct. 11, with organizers seeking sponsors and vendors to get involved, according to a community announcement.<\/p>\n The event is expected to draw hundreds of participants for a 5K fun run and 1-mile walk, raising funds and awareness for accessible, no-cost mental health programs across a 10-county region, according to the announcement.<\/p>\n NAMI is offering sponsorships starting at $100, which include marketing benefits such as logo placement, social media mentions and event recognition. Vendors, including food trucks, nonprofits and craft booths, are invited to participate without a vendor fee.<\/p>\n Organizers said 100% of funds raised are planned to stay local to support mental health programs.<\/p>\n \u201cBe part of a positive, stigma-busting, community-building celebration,\u201d the announcement said.<\/p>\n NAMI West Central Illinois serves Adams, Brown, Cass, Greene, Hancock, McDonough, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler and Scott counties.<\/p>\n Interested sponsors and vendors can learn more or sign up at namiwalks.org\/wcil<\/a>. For more information, contact Katie Neeley at katie@namiillinois.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was created by reporter Abreanna Blose, ablose@gannett.com<\/a>, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n