Branching Out… to Community

Written by Guest Contributor, Sam Madore

CMHA Colchester East Hants celebrates its new home and the donors who helped make it happen.

There is nothing like seeing a community of people coming together for a good cause. There is a collective feeling of goodness and an overall understanding that what they are supporting is the right thing to do.

When the folks at the Colchester East Hants Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) began fundraising for their new building in downtown Truro, they knew that they couldn’t do it alone. They knew they would need the support of like-minded people in the community to help spread the word. People who got it. People who understood the impact and importance of having space in the center of town, where anyone could walk through the doors and feel comfortable and welcome to work toward improving their mental wellness. People who could help to tell their story. 

And that’s where branching out came from as a tagline for their building campaign. The need to branch out to those folks in the area who could help to spread the word. And then the need to reach further out in the community to find businesses and organizations that could help to financially support the vision of bringing the building to life. Branching out to the community to turn the CMHA vision into a reality.

In most places, there tends to be a lot of asks that come into businesses and organizations. Truro and Colchester over the last couple of years have been no exception. There have been a lot of asks. Lots of worthy fundraisers, capital campaigns, events…

And it is quite remarkable to watch what often happens in these situations… the love simply gets spread around. The people within these businesses do what they can to help out as much as they can with all of the organizations that will help their community thrive. They connect to the stories, they see the value and vision that each initiative will bring to their community. They get it.

When CMHA unveiled their donor wall and showed gratitude to all of their donors from the community – people who helped to support their branching out campaign to date – the room was full of people who got it. They connected to the story of CMHA. They saw the value that this new building will bring to their employees, their families, their neighbors, themselves. They showed their love in a big way.

The donor wall itself is something that belongs in an art exhibit. On theme with the concept of branching out, the wall is a tree of intricate bark and branches, designed in wood by local artist Rob MacCormack. Each leaf on the tree represents a generous organization that has, in some way, connected to CMHA’s story… That everyone has a connection to mental health.

And there is still room to add more leaves. More opportunity to support this cause that connects us all. 

Knowing our community as I do, I know there is more love to give.