A local mental health initiative takes a further step towards spreading awareness in the classroom. The Lloydminster Regional Health Foundation received a $25,000 cheque on August 28 from Canadian Natural Resources on behalf of Project Sunrise and in-school programs.
Health Foundation CEO, Malcolm Radke commends CNRL for stepping up in a big way in order to support the youth in the community.
“Canadian Natural identified from the start that they have families and staff that live here and work in [Lloydminster] so they need to support the schools and all of the communities, basically, beyond what they do day in and day out.”
Radke believes the partnership with the Lloydminster Public School division is the perfect opportunity to help youth spread mental health awareness and give them the tools to assist in their lives.
The sizable donation will be spread amongst a variety of projects including Kids have Stress Too, a curriculum resource for students in Kindergarten to Grade 9 and Strengths, which is a program for students in Grade 7 through 12 identify and strengthen their talents. LPSD Superintendent of Education, Brent Thomas believes the partnership with LRHF will be extremely beneficial for students.
“We have 4,300 plus students in our school division, so our hope is to get these tools and resources in each classroom in our schools. That $25,000 will be a huge start to that, and we just hope to just keep building from there.”
Since 2014, Project Sunrise, a Health Foundation mental health initiative, has aimed to bring better mental health services to Lloydminster and surrounding areas.