Skills of Central PA to Host Mental Health Awareness Month Kickoff Celebration

Skills of Central PA will host its 18th Annual Mental Health Awareness Month Kickoff Celebration at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 2. For the first time, the event will take place at the Wasson Farm event barn, 2545 Shingletown Road, State College. 

Admission is free and open to all for the celebration, which will include a full schedule of live music, free food, activities, vendors, door prizes and compelling stories.

Popular musician Eric Ian Farmer will get the celebration started when the doors open at 5 p.m.  A free Wasson ice cream scoop will be given to every attendee, along with other complimentary snacks for all.  At the same time, the vendor fair will open inside the barn and activities will begin.

The formal program begins at 5:30 p.m., with speakers sharing stories of inspiration, success, hope and recovery.  The music and vendor fair will resume at about 6:30 p.m. and lead up to the door prize drawing. 

Although the celebration has taken place for 17 years prior, this year’s event boasts a new, expanded format. 

Health and human service providers and other organizations that are key to mental health in Centre County are now actively participating in the event. In addition to all the vendors who will be connecting with Centre County residents during the evening, two new corporate sponsors were welcomed to the event. Presenting sponsor Centre Helps / 988 Suicide-Crisis Lifeline will be part of the vendor fair, handing out valuable resources and answering questions, while promoting their website www.centrehelps.org.  The Meadows, celebrating 40 years of commitment to recovery, joins Centre Helps, Skills of Central PA and the Opportunity Centre Clubhouse as major contributors to the event.

For 2024, an entire committee of volunteers was newly formed. These mental health professionals have been meeting and working on various elements of the celebration for months.

For more about the celebration, visit  www.SkillsOfCentralPa.org or the event’s new Facebook page.