Special to The Dallas Examiner
DALLAS
“Elevate Your Mental Health Awareness: Myths, Realities and Resources,” a free mental health symposium, will focus on facts about mental illness, educational resources, emotional support and information to combat stigmas that can discourage individuals from seeking treatment.
Sponsored by St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church, the symposium will be held Sept. 30 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 5710 E. R.L. Thornton Freeway.
Highlights will include mental health experts, informative workshops and treatment and support resources for youth, adults, seniors and families. The keynote speaker for the event is Christian therapist Dr. Brenda Richardson-Rowe, LPC-S, director of Dallas’ Harmony Counseling Center.
For more information and registration, call 214-821-2970 or visit www.slcumc.org.
DALLAS
In honor of National Grandparents Day, Congressman Marc Veasey, Texas-33, reintroduced H.R. 3796, the Grandparents Tax Credit Act, which provides a $500 refundable tax credit to help cover additional expenses for grandparent caregivers. This legislation aims to lessen the out-of-pocket costs that grandparents take on when they step up to help raise their grandchildren when their parents cannot.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, over 10 percent of children lived with their grandparents and over 2.7 million grandparents claim sole responsibility for their grandchildren. During their golden years, grandparents take on this undertaking to assist parents who are working multiple jobs, have long term unemployment or are spending extended time away from home due to military service or drug rehabilitation and require additional help to take care of their children. The added financial burden has left many grandparents in difficult financial situations as many already struggle to make ends meet on a fixed income. More than half a million grandparents in the United States are exclusively responsible for their grandchildren and survive on poverty level incomes.
“I was fortunate that my mother, brother, and I were able to move in with my grandmother at the age of 10 when our circumstances required it. She played a central role in my upbringing and helped raise me into the man I am today,” Congressman Veasey said. “I want to ensure that current and future grandparents, like my own grandmother, will receive a little extra help to cover the additional expenses they inherit when they take on a traditionally uncompensated labor of love. No grandparent should have to struggle because they have chosen to take care of their grandchildren.”