{"id":655663,"date":"2026-05-21T03:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655663\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T03:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:11:12","slug":"fleming-island-father-starts-nonprofit-after-daughters-death-aims-to-expand-mental-health-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655663\/","title":{"rendered":"Fleming Island father starts nonprofit after daughter\u2019s death, aims to expand mental health support"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. \u2013 After the death of his 16-year-old daughter, a Fleming Island father is turning grief into action by launching a nonprofit aimed at connecting families to mental health resources and strengthening suicide prevention in Clay and Putnam counties.<\/p>\n

Brandon Cumbo said his daughter, Mackenzie Helena Cumbo, was an outgoing teenager who loved music, sports and art and was \u201cdefinitely a light everywhere that she went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cumbo said Mackenzie died by suicide on March 24 after a struggle with mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cA part of me died when Mackenzie died and I am not the same and I never will be,\u201d Cumbo said.<\/p>\n

Cumbo and his wife, Karina, started Mackenzie\u2019s Light Foundation<\/a> in her memory. Cumbo said his family knew Mackenzie had mental health struggles and she had been seeing a psychiatrist and therapist, but he said he did not see signs that she would take her own life.<\/p>\n

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among youth and young adults, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Christine Caulfield, CEO of LSF Health Systems, said many factors can contribute to a young person\u2019s mental health crisis, including pressures tied to social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis causes a lot of distress for our teens, for our adolescents, for our children because they want to measure up,\u201d Caulfield said.<\/p>\n

One of the nonprofit\u2019s services is the \u201cLight Line<\/a>,\u201d which allows community members to submit a request form outlining a specific need. The foundation says it can help connect people to mental health referrals and support during crisis or emergency situations, and can also assist with basic needs such as food, essentials and housing emergencies.<\/p>\n

Cumbo said the foundation has already helped families with urgent needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had food delivered, we\u2019ve paid electric bills to get electricity cut back on,\u201d he said. \u201cSo just in that short time\u2026we\u2019re also going to start doing classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foundation is also planning public events intended to build community awareness and raise support. Organizers said a Mental Health Awareness car show is scheduled for May 23. Another free event titled \u201cProtect Your Kids Online\u201d is set for 5-8 p.m. Friday, May 29 at the Fleming Island Library, where parents and guardians can get hands-on help setting up parental controls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to start hosting those monthly\u2026here in Clay and Putnam counties,\u201d Cumbo said.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit has also established an annual Junior ROTC scholarship in Mackenzie\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know needs help<\/p>\n

Call or text\u00a0988\u00a0(Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), available 24\/7.<\/p>\n

If you are in immediate danger, call\u00a0911.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. \u2013 After the death of his 16-year-old daughter, a Fleming Island father is turning grief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[42699,188451,282687,97,259,260,3364],"class_list":["post-655663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-clay-county","tag-flagler-county","tag-fleming-island","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-suicide-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}