Cast Your Vote for Crazy!

A dear friend of mine requested this post and I am obliging because I believe….

A while back, I wrote a post on mental illness and a theater program called Erasing the Distance. You can find that original post here. It’s a long post so I’ll summarize here:

Erasing the Distance, a theatre company in Chicago, uses the power of performance to disarm stigma, spark dialogue, educate and promote healing surrounding issues of mental health. The company collects the true stories from people whose lives have been affected by mental health issues.  The group then crafts these stories into theatrical pieces which they then perform for schools, faith groups, community organizations, and the general public. After the performances, they hold discussions so the audience can create dialogues in a safe forum.

The point is that this is an incredible charity organization that sheds light on mental health issues through theatre. ETD was founded in 2005 and has been seen by over 26,000 people! The organization is in the running to win a HUGE grant through Chase Community Giving. Chase is giving 100 small charities over $3M in grants, and your vote will help decide which one!

When my friend asked for my help in soliciting votes, she included several links to several other blog posts doing the same thing. One of these posts particularly resonated with me as the title made me laugh: If I’m Crazy, Do I Get More Clicks? The post made me think. She has a point. Many of us in the blog world eventually get to the point where we can write about our troubles. Not the kind of troubles like budgets or RSVP’s or in-season flowers. I mean serious troubles. Some of my favorite wedding bloggers have touched on the subject of mental health on more than one occasion.  I’ve written about my own body image issues and eating disorder before mostly because after a while, you feel safe on your blog. You feel compelled to share, to help through your own personal experiences. To work your shit out through the process of writing and self-examination. You draw strength from the sharing and receiving feedback from followers. That’s empowering on a certain level.

Sadly, not everyone has that same outlet; no safe place to discuss. Erasing the Distance provides that safe place for a lot of people. No judgment. No blame. I think that’s a good thing.

So I’m going to ask y’all to help them win this grant. All you have to do is click a few links and you’re done.

First, click on the button below. It will take you to the voting page for Erase the Distance. Before you can cast your vote, you have to hit the “Like” button at the top of the page for Chase Community Giving. Then cast your vote for Erasing the Distance. As an extra favor for me, link it on your Facebook page and ask your friends to help too. Tweet it. Blog it. Share it anyway you can.

Erasing the Distance has made it into the Top 100 and there are only FIVE DAYS left to vote, so PLEASE help this amazing charity and vote today!

Thanks, y’all!

Comments

[Becca]

Thank you for sharing information about Erasing the Distance. This sounds like an amazing group and I just voted for them!

[Louise]

Thanks so much Becca!

[Tina]

Good one and I am really voting for Erasing the distance. :)

[Genevieve]

Thanks so much for this great post supporting ETD and for mentioning my post too. Really appreciate the positive feedback.