JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 United Way of Northeast Florida launched its first-ever mental health fund on May 1, the start of Mental Health Awareness Month. <\/p>\n
The new United for Mental Health Fund aims to ensure individuals across Northeast Florida receive critical mental health support when they need it most.<\/p>\n
The fund seeks to raise $250,000 by May 31 to address the growing demand for crisis response and mental health services. Gifts to the fund will mobilize donors passionate about mental well-being to support four key services provided by United Way.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Melanie Patz, president and CEO of United Way of Northeast Florida, highlighted the breadth of their work. \u201cWe operate four services around the clock every day of the year that address mental health needs \u2013 and yet many people have no idea we provide them,\u201d Patz said. \u201cThis fund will help raise dollars to sustain this critical work but also raise awareness of our services to ensure no one suffers because they didn\u2019t know help is available.\u201d<\/p>\n Services include United Way\u2019s Full Service Schools, the 988 Florida Lifeline, United Way 211 and Mission United. <\/p>\n For 35 years, United Way has served as the administrative arm of Full Service Schools, helping thousands of Duval County public school students each year access free mental health care and other critical services.<\/p>\n United Way also operates the free 211 information and referral hotline, which was established in 1985. The 211 service annually connects callers to available housing, food, health care and other essential resources. Additionally, United Way manages the 988 Florida Lifeline for its nine-county region, where more than 12,500 people each year reach out for suicide prevention and mental health crisis support. <\/p>\n Through Mission United, United Way provides benefit and care coordination for Veterans and their families, connecting more than 780 Veterans last year alone to necessary services and support.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Rebecca Weaver, United Way\u2019s vice president of crisis and community navigation, described the critical role of these services. \u201cEvery person who calls us seeking help is searching for one thing: a reason to keep going,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cThese services pull people back from crisis, stabilize families and strengthen the broader community. Your gift ensures this important work continues \u2013 and grows with the demand. One donation can change the entire trajectory of a life. Please join us.\u201d<\/p>\n Interested donors can give to the United for Mental Health Fund on United Way\u2019s website, at unitedwaynefl.org<\/a>, or by contacting \u00c9res McKee, vice president of philanthropy, directly at eresm@uwnefl.org.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 United Way of Northeast Florida launched its first-ever mental health fund on May 1, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[344,347,28,30,29,348,116,351,111294,349,350,111295,55169,346,345],"class_list":["post-256291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-mental-health-fund","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-united-way-mental-health","tag-united-way-of-northeast-florida","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}