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Photo-op with the three Chester County Commissioners and members of our group .

Here is the newspaper article  of the event that was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Glenn Koons, a West Chester resident and an advocate for mentally ill people, recently accepted a proclamation from the Chester County commissioners on behalf of those living with mental illness. The proclamation recognized Oct. 7 to 13 as Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Koons, a 1975 graduate of Great Valley High School, is active in the Chester County chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).

He works for the state chapter in Harrisburg.

Koons accepted the award at a recent commissioners meeting. Several NAMI advocates also attended the proclamation ceremony, including
Louise Cortelyou of Berwyn, Marilyn Baker of Paoli, and Jean Froy of Berwyn. Froy is president of the Chester County chapter. Rob Chisholm, a Pottstown resident and director of Chester County Compeer, a mentoring program for mentally ill people, also attended.

NAMI is the nation's largest advocacy group for people with mental illness.

uesday October 9th while at the courthouse in West Chester ,members of NAMI PA Chester County, along with other members of Chester County mental health Community, met with our elected County Commissioners .

Chester County has three elected  commissioners; Andrew Dinniman ( D ), Collin Hanna ( R ) and Karen Martynick ( R) .
The Commissioners have always been very receptive to being involved in activities during mental Illness awareness week. In the past the commissioners have been involved with us in MIAW events In 1998 ( http://xroads97.tripod.com/main/page7.html)
They were involved in a community awareness project that was done on the Courthouse steps call "The Wall" (https://members.tripod.com/XROADS97/WALL/Wall.html) And this year was no exception.

Our group arrived early on Tuesday morning at the commissioners office to await being called in for the monthly commissioners meeting where the proclamation making it officially MIAW in Chester County was to be given.
For more then an hour we  waited, and soon there were no more seats left in the lobby, as more of our group had arrived. In the end our group totaled close to 15 people.

Finally the meeting room door was opened , we rushed forward to grab a seat and the commissioners meeting began. We pledged our allegiance to the flag, which is a requirement that any public meeting must provide for. But since the tragedy of Sept 11th, the long-standing practice gave new meeting to me.

Of course the commissioners had other things on their agenda. They also proclaimed this week as Fire prevention/Safety Week.
Finally the big moment came and the Commissioners proclaimed the next 6 days as Mental Illness Awareness Week in Chester County. As the event wrapped up, I was flattered that the Commissioners remembered who I was and even asked me how I was doing. I consider it a nice touch that I was remembered for the positive things I have done in past events for Mental Illness Awareness Week.
R.F

~ The End ~

Thanks goes out to M.Baker for her tireless work in getting everything we needed done for the meeting to happen without a glitch.

You Can View Other Photo's in our NAMI PA Chester County Web Photo Album.
Click here to visit.

From left to right
Andrew Dinniman,
Collin Hanna and
Karen Martynick

( Dr )Ralph Goetezenburger, member of the Chester County MH/MR Board introduces our diverse group to the commissioners. ( they remembered me from last years MIAW event )

Our group waiting in the commissioners lobby.

For more information about our Chapter meetings, locations and times, Please check out our
own Chapter website. The Address is on the left