It's Giving Tuesday!
The nation’s youth are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. More than 15 million children need mental health services, but only 30 percent receive care. In the Kansas City region, those numbers are higher, with 40-50 percent going untreated. This year all donations on Giving Tuesday will light the path forward to help fund, Illuminate, our comprehensive initiative to address the mental health needs of children in our community – four strategies, 14 projects, impacting more than 80,000 kids – the largest of its kind in the region.
Every day, dozens of children come to the Emergency Department at Children’s Mercy due to a behavioral health crisis. Children like Elizabeth. Elizabeth was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety as an elementary school student, but her conditions were exasperated by the pandemic and a spiraling crisis led to a trip to the Children’s Mercy emergency room, except there was a problem – there were no hospital beds available for intensive inpatient treatment in a 150-mile radius of Kansas City. Elizabeth finally got the care she needed, and today she is a vibrant high school freshman. But her story reminds us why each aspect of our comprehensive mental health plan is critical for our community’s children. Watch Elizabeth’s full story.
Your donations can go twice as far to help kids like Elizabeth. All gifts received on Giving Tuesday will be matched $1 for $1 until we reach $100,000.