The crowd visiting the display at the University of Minnesota looked different from the usual bunch. It wasn’t because of a different demographic or sense of style. It was because the wonderful Active Minds chapter here provided 800 free t-shirts to give away for those that stopped by to view the display and read the stories. An overwhelming number of them put the shirts on immediately and stuck around for awhile. The T-shirts all said “I am an advocate for mental health because…” and there were fabric markers provided for people to write their own reason on the shirts. As people took the shirts and wrote on their own reasons, we began to see a sea of supporters visually sharing something we all shared: an interest in supporting each-other.

The shirts had a wide range of reasons:

“I am a mental health advocate because of my brother”
“I am a mental health advocate because we need to listen”
“I am a mental health advocate because we’re all in this together”

Later in the day, many of the chapter members, other campus groups, volunteers, community members, students, and mental health advocates all wore their shirts and stood still for five minutes among the backpacks. This visual was stunning. Hundreds of students stopped to see the message being spread. Several news cameras recorded the event.

Afterwards, Jon Delperdang shared some info about the program on camera.

The after-noon was filled with mental-health related events. Two members from the group Voices Merging performed very moving spoken word performances in front of the display.

Near the end of the display, we were able to meet and interact with the family of Brian Devine, one of the students on the backpacks. They donated Brian’s story three years ago, and were finally able to see it again face-to-face during the display. They were even able to add an additional message to the bag.

Erica Devine, Brian's sister, reads the stories traveling alongside Brian's backpack

If you attended this display, please take a moment to complete a survey, thank you.