Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
November 2, 2016 5:42 p.m.
I didn’t expect the dinner I attended Tuesday evening to be an arts and culture event but you never know. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Nassau County held its annual fund-raising dinner at St. Peter’s Burns Hall. The food was good and the entertainment, from an unexpected source, was great.
The woman who sent me the invitation captured it perfectly. She said, “If you haven’t been to an auction run by Aaron Bean, you have no idea of what’s coming.” Bean’s timing was spot on, his humor arising out of the events of the evening. He would start in one direction, make a joke, find out he was incorrect, move to another direction, and make another joke. Afterwards one of my friends said that she didn’t know much about him but after that night, she would vote for him anytime.
I’d like to single out another group that contributed to the success of the evening. St. Peter’s Episcopal Church is marvelously and generously involved in the community. I was thinking back to all of the events I’ve attended in Burns Hall – meetings, luncheons, volunteer parties, concerts. I’m in a book club that meets in one of the rooms and have also taken courses there. My hat’s off to them for all the good things they help happen in our town.
A word on NAMI for those of you who are unfamiliar with it (as I was). The organization that is now NAMI Nassau started here in 1987 though the national organization began about 10 years earlier. Their mission is to educate the general public so that they will understand that mental illnesses are neurological brain disorders that are no-fault, biologically based, treatable, and may eventually be preventable. They offer support groups for people with a loved one or friend who has been diagnosed with mental illness and through their efforts, hope to remove some of the stigma associated with mental health issues.
I’ve heard far too many people who think that mental illness is somehow a failure of character or the mentally ill are just seeking a handout. NAMI understands how difficult things can be for anyone with mental illness and they reach out to help rather than critique. They believe that a person with a mental illness can make tremendous strides into self-sufficiency with a little help. The organization funds brain research and supports needs that aren’t covered by Medicaid.
The dinner was a fun evening, well-attended, well-organized, and for a good cause. And if any of you have a group that wants to hold an auction, word of advice – get Aaron Bean.
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.