Farm-City Breakfast to bring awareness to mental health
When Farm-City Breakfast was first started over 40 years ago, the premise was for people from different walks of life to come together to celebrate the vast contributions of the agriculture community to our overall economic vitality.
The event showcases the rich history of our region and farming. But it also truly showcases the present and the future.
Recently, First Christian Church pastor Chris Michael said that children and youth are not the future of the Church, but the PRESENT of the Church.
So it goes for the FFA members in our community. Spending time with these young people demonstrates that they are already doing their part to innovate, serve and inspire others.
Chloe Ebelhar, an Apollo High School FFA student, was nationally recognized for her speech on mental health in farming and agriculture.
She will share her message with us next Saturday and we will follow her call to action with a panel to discuss the various aspects of mental health as it relates to farmers and farming families.
This is quite revolutionary.
Our Farm Bureau and Extension Office have both been leaders in destigmatizing this issue.
If you have the privilege to be close to people in agriculture, you know that times have been challenging and just down right hard.
They were already experiencing these trying times long before the rest of us in other walks of life.
And COVID has proliferated this.
We have all been programmed to “suck it up” or “walk it off” or “keep calm and carry on” or “keep a stiff upper lip.”
But, in my opinion, one of the silver linings of the collective trauma of the past two years is that it is becoming culturally acceptable to talk about mental health.
Our panel will feature Joan Hayden with Hayden Farms and Hayden Electric, Dr. Wanda Figueroa Peralta with RiverValley & Affiliates, and Dr. Julie Marfell with the University of Kentucky School of Nursing.
Each of these individuals have a unique perspective on mental health and are proven in their professions, known as people of courage and character.
I often wonder about how many of our families would have been different if it was OK to talk about these things years ago. As a granddaughter of two World War II vets (who were both in farming at some point in their lives) and the daughter of a Vietnam vet (also in farming), I saw them each suffer in their own ways.
Each conquered their troubles, but only after struggles and pain — not just to them, but to so many loved ones.
It is true that we all have our burdens to carry. And we do have to be tough to survive.
But I would like to think that being tough means being able to admit when we are feeling the need for a little help. I know there are friends of mine who rolled their eyes reading this thinking that maybe I should follow suit!
I cannot imagine a tougher, more resilient group of people than farmers.
They deserve our gratitude and our deep respect. The next meal you have, try to begin the habit of thinking of the men and women who got that food to your table.
It’s overwhelming.
To our Farmers: We are indebted to you each day. You innovate, you work countless hours and you devote passion and time to building something special — to leave to your family and to nourish each of ours.