Many years ago, a member came to me privately in dire financial straits and need. She asked if there was any way her friends online could give her money and have me act as an intermediary, to collect all the funds and forward them to her. I said sure, why not, and here's a few dollars of my own.

That led to the creation of what we now call our Community Fund Drives. Conducted sparingly, 3 or 4 times a year, they are fund drives for members in financial need, where the money will help them out of a one-time rough spot in their lives. Since most of us have experienced such a spot in our lives, I think we would appreciate having a resource like this available to us.

The informal guidelines for the Community Fund Drive are:

• Must be a member in good standing here for at least 6 months
• Must have an immediate, emergency, one-time need
• Must have exhausted all other resources for funding first
• Only one fund drive per member, every 3 years
• Fund request must be under $599.00 and have a significant impact on the person's life
• Proof of outstanding bills or debt is required
• Members who donate gain immediate access to our exclusive, private Supporters Forum
• Members can donate any amount they want, but we encourage only giving what you truly can afford. Even $5 helps out.
• All donations are tax deductible, because all the donations are handled independently by our associated non-profit, Help & Heal Mental Health Fund.

Want to apply for a grant? Grants are administered by our associated non-profit, Help & Heal Mental Health Fund. So the grant is on their website and is called a Help & Heal Mental Health Fund grant:

Help & Heal Mental Health Fund Grant Information

As president of the non-profit, I determine whether a fund drive request should proceed. If I approve it, it then goes to the community support team for their review and approval. Once the community support team gives their approval, it gets posted. Fund drives typically are conducted for approx. two weeks.

Because we try and conduct the fund drives throughout the year, once every few months, we appreciate members being sensitive to asking members of the community for funds immediately after another fund drive has ended.

Want to donate to the general Fund Drive? You can do so at any time. Log into PayPal and click on the "Send Money" tab. Send it to: donations@helphealmentalhealth.org

Or visit here to donate directly to the fund:

DONATE Today to the Help and Heal Mental Health Fund

Thank you!
DocJohn