National Alliance on Mental Health and Assisted Independence have teamed together to use the spirit of March madness to raise money and bring awareness to mental health and suicide prevention issues.
Twenty-four year old Columbus native and Assisted Independence founder Nathan Red has joined in on NAMI’s second annual Hoops for Hope basketball game. Red and the rest of the NAMI team will be playing in Bankers Life Fieldhouse against members of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The $30 ticket admission price also includes admission into the Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat game that starts at 5 p.m. Half the profit goes to the Pacers, and the other half will go toward mental illness. Spectators and players also get to meet Darren Collison between games and compete in a halftime 3-point contest for a chance to win a gift card.
Assisted Independence provides nursing, caregiving and therapeutic services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Red is pretty passionate about raising awareness about mental issues because that’s something that a number of his clients struggle with.
“Individuals with developmental disabilities can be very susceptible to mental illness because of the stigma, because of the discrimination, because of the design and the environment of the way our society is made,” Red said. “They can be prone to things like depression.”
One of Red’s earliest involvements with mental illness awareness was through Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Incorporated during his junior year at Indiana University when a close friend of his fraternity brother, Richard Dixon, took his own life. That led Dixon to use his platform to lead a suicide awareness event for the campus that Red was a part of.
Red and Dixon have joined together for the same cause once again. Dixon is NAMI’s outreach and events manager who launched the inaugural Hoops for Hopes game last March.
Assisted Independence had a monetary donation worth 14 tickets that Red was able to pass out to a few of his clients and employees. Three of clients that Assisted Independence will be bringing are 15-year-old Steven Miller, along with two Columbus natives — 20-year-old Collin Booher and 26-year-old Joshua Wayne.
Assisted Independence direct support professionals Eli Harmon and Tia Blackley also will be attending to help assist them.
Sports is one of the major ways Red and his company help his clients improve their development skills, so many of them are big sports fans and would love the opportunity to see a Pacers game. Red also thanks NAMI for giving him a chance to play a basketball game in an NBA arena.
“This is a dream come true,” Red said. “This is going to be the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”
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What: Hoops for Hope
When: 8 p.m. Sunday (following 5 p.m. Pacers vs. Heat game)
Where: Bankers Life Field House
Ticket Price: $30 for admission into Pacers and charity game
Contact for tickets: Richard Dixon, [email protected]
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