Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division is pleased to accept a $25,000 grant from the Gay Lea Foundation that will go toward In The Know, a mental health literacy program for farmers and the agricultural community.
In the Know is one of 11 projects to receive funding from the Gay Lea Foundation and the grant will help CMHA Ontario reach over 2,560 farmers across Ontario in 2022, and contribute to the goal of expanding the program to reach every farmer in Ontario in the years ahead.
“The Gay Lea Foundation was born from our co-operative values at Gay Lea Foods as well as a collective desire among our employees and shareholders to give back to communities,” says Foundation chair, Janet Ringelberg. “This year, it was incredibly fitting that we were able to come together during Co-op Week to celebrate the impact our Foundation made here in Canada and around the world, and to further extend our reach by approving funding for 11 new charitable projects.”
In The Know is a mental health literacy program developed at the Ontario Veterinary College (University of Guelph) created specifically to educate the agricultural community. It aims to build mental health knowledge and increase help-seeking among farmers and the wider agricultural community. Offered free of charge, the four-hour training program delivers farmer-centred courses that have been shown to increase participants’ mental health knowledge and confidence in recognizing mental health struggles, speaking about mental health, and helping others who are struggling. In The Know is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Since its creation in 2014, the Gay Lea Foundation has awarded more than $1.9 Million in charitable grants to more than 110 registered Canadian charities providing important humanitarian supports to communities in in Canada, Haiti, Central America, Asia, and Africa. Funding for the grants is provided by an annual $150,000 contribution from Gay Lea Foods, as well as an elective employee payroll deduction program and organized internal “Co-op Week” activities that regularly raise upward of $100,000 annually for the Foundation and the projects it supports.
For more information, visit https://www.gaylea.com/foundation/the-gay-lea-foundation.