COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew (Major League Soccer) exectuives and fans collaborated with On Our Sleeves, the national movement for children’s mental health, on a record-setting campaign to break stigmas and raise funds for childhood mental health resources for families.
Fans and partners from the Columbus Crew, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and On Our Sleeves wrapped the Lower.com Field pitch, setting the Guinness world record for longest chain of sports fan scarfs to draw attention to childhood mental health. The record-setting ceremony was celebrated this morning at the Crew’s new and modern Lower.com Field. The prized scarf tied together a community-wide commitment through the Wrap Them In Support campaign, where all proceeds benefit On Our Sleeves to provide free mental health educational resources to every community in America.
The creative, record-setting effort kicked off in October when fans were invited to purchase specially designed "Wrap Them In Support" fan scarfs. For every purchase, the Crew team donated a scarf toward the record-setting attempt. Made from more than 1,000 individual scarfs and measuring more than one mile in length, the Wrap Them In Support campaign successfully set the record for the longest chain of sports fan scarfs.
“We are extremely proud of the Crew community for coming together to help break the stigma surrounding childhood mental health,” said Kristin Bernert, Columbus Crew president of business operations. “To see our pitch wrapped in this symbol of support and know that we are making a real impact is incredibly rewarding. Helping to set this record has drawn much-needed attention to the On Our Sleeves mission, and we are honored to partner with Nationwide Children’s Hospital on this important initiative.”
Proceeds from this campaign support the national movement On Our Sleeves, which is powered by behavioral health experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. On Our Sleeves aims to provide every community in America with free resources necessary for breaking child mental health stigmas and educating families and advocates, because no child or family should struggle alone.
“Our mission is to help families start and respond to those difficult conversations surrounding childhood mental health,” said Marti Bledsoe Post, executive director of On Our Sleeves. “Despite the fact that one in five children is living with a mental illness, there’s often stigma around the topic. With the donations from this campaign, we can ensure that families everywhere have resources to boost mental health. We’re grateful to the Columbus Crew and their fans, corporate partners like Nationwide, and the community for coming together and bringing their record-setting enthusiasm to our cause.”
This achievement was celebrated by fans during On Our Sleeves night at the May 21 Columbus Crew game. Though the record has already been set, it's not too late to be part of this history-making event. Fans can now take part of the record home by purchasing commemorative scarfs, which were donated by the Crew, to help complete the record-setting chain. The commemorative scarfs are one more way the community can help fund resources for children's mental health.
“As a partner in this campaign, Nationwide is incredibly proud of this partnership and of the awareness and support we’re driving to help children and families benefiting from On Our Sleeves,” said Ramon Jones, chief marketing officer for Nationwide. “It’s rewarding to come together in a creative way to express our commitment, and to rally our community members to join the cause.”
For more information and to purchase scarfs, visit https://event.gives/wraptheminsupport.
About On Our Sleeves
Children don’t wear their thoughts on their sleeves. With one in five children living with a significant mental health concern and half of all lifetime mental health concerns starting by age 14, we need to give them a voice. On Our Sleeves, powered by behavioral health experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, aims to provide every community in America with free resources necessary for breaking child mental health stigmas and educating families and advocates, because no child or family should struggle alone.
Since the inception of On Our Sleeves in 2018, more than 3 million people in every state across America have interacted with the movement’s free pediatric mental health educational resources at OnOurSleeves.org and educator curriculums have reached more than four of five classrooms across the United States.
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