Walkers and banners once again filled the Ventura Beach Promenade as the annual NAMIWalk Ventura County kicked in on Saturday, May 3.

Moorpark College staffs and students participated in this event which is hosted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

According to NAMI, nearly 60 million Americans experience a mental health condition every year. NAMI is an organization with the main goals of reducing stigma, promoting awareness and encouraging understanding of mental illness.

NAMIWalk is a fund-raising event which raises money to assist the mentally ill and their loved ones. The event involved participants to walk the 5K trail across the Ventura Promenade.

“There were around 30 walkers in this year,” said David Birchman, the co-organizer of the NAMI club and an English professor at Moorpark College.

The team also managed to raise a total of $1,655 thanks to the thirty-seven donors, according to Birchman.

But why is NAMI’s work on raising awareness so important? Denise Lopez elaborated more on this.

“Educating people is kind of the most important thing because when people are ignorant about something, they don’t know what to do about it,” said Lopez, the Vice President of the NAMI club. “But when you understand, you’ll know how to address the problem and not necessarily fix it.”

Understanding and having sympathy is the key, as people usually associate mental illness to a “mechanical problem” that could simply be fixed either through medication or therapy.

“Education is so important because once you’re aware, you’ll know what to do,” said Lopez.

An English major, Lauren Zamphir, 18, spoke positively on the work of NAMI.

“I think they they’re doing a really good work [by] trying to help the community in a good way,” said Zamphir. “So I definitely approve of their work.”

Taylor Currie, 20-year-old Film major, came to the NAMIWalk to further her knowledge on the issue of mental illness. She was inspired about the issue since attending an event on Multicultural Day which provides a unique perspective on mental illness.

“The cause [of the NAMIWalk] is really great and it seems like a fun event so I came to participate.”

Team Moorpark College also had support from the Spectrum club which offers support for the LGBT students on campus.

“NAMI group and Spectrum club go hand in hand, because a lot of people in the gay communities suffer from mental illness,” said President of the Spectrum club, Megan Karch. “We’re the group with the highest suicide rate out of anybody.”

Birchman explained that this was the second time the Moorpark College NAMI club participated in this event.

“This is not an officially Moorpark College-sponsored event,” said Birchman. “Students come here today on their own, out of the goodness of their hearts,”

The event was a great opportunity for students to close off their books and go to the beach. Students can enjoy the sunshine and cool breeze while supporting a great cause at the same time. What’s could be better than this?