Photo Shoot 2020

It was a wonderful summer night, it felt good to be OUT and ABOUT-felt normal. Our lovely photographer Lisa did a stellar job again of making the work fun and not stressful. We continue to solicit models who are every day people we know and who believe in our story and work. We added Brittany to our modeling group this year, how fun was that. Her humor and energy is amazing, her faith and passion for what she believes in is contagious and can’t help but rub off on you.

*Click on picture to see the gallery

July 2020 Update

Wow, half of 2020 is over, where did it go? Well we know where it went, Covid 19, social unrest, humans struggling to connect both physically and emotionally. SO STINKING HARD. Not easy my friends and not going away. That isn’t all bad, change and evolution happen from discomfort, maybe that is the course we are on. I have this secret hope that all this discombobulation blows the lid off of mental wellness, and being vulnerable, and asking for help and humans being nice to humans. I am waiting and hoping, and as I do that Yet We Rise will keep moving forward as best we can, because the “model the mantra”, “stop the stigma”, and being open about our mental health may be more important than ever.

Here is a rundown of our last six months, may have been quiet but made ripples.

February-Rowathon completed-see post below

March/April-New product, went for a new look-loved it!

May-Mental Health Awareness Month-Book Give Away and live book chats-LOVED these

June-Photo shoot for new product-check the Product Page out

July-Product push and website updates

As we hit this fall, we will focus again on our annual fundraiser and donation push. It may look different if physical distancing is still the norm, we know we can persevere

We hope to expand our “Feature Story” and introduce a new fall/winter product

I hope you continue to check back with us!

2020 Rowathon!

2019 1st Annual Rowathon
-4 Teams-24 participants
-15 Business/Donations
-$2,900 raised

2020 2nd Annual Rowathon
-9 Teams-64 Participants
-28 Businesses/Donations
-$3,600 raised
-266,385 Meters Rowed

Now, while the amount of money may not be a significant difference, here is what is...look at the number of "touches" and connections made with the PEOPLE tally, that is what matters. Did we expand our message? Are more people aware and talking and pondering? That growth in just this short 2 hour time frame was huge.

We give such thanks to those who helped in some small or big way for this event.

One Step

We had some outside time yesterday, it was beautiful fall weather for some fall product pictures. When it comes to picture time I may hop in on a few but I really just stand around and watch Lisa do her thing, it makes me smile. I sometimes sneak pictures of her and then take some random ones of my own.

I was first of all so happy to be wearing these shoes as my broken toe has kept me in flip flops for the last month. I dislike flip flops. They are loose, hurt the space between my big toe and second toe, not very pretty really, and not functional when snow hits South Dakota in October as it always does. I had no choice, I had to wear them as my toe was not having it. I had to wear them and carry on with my daily life. WHICH is why we keep doing this work and invite our friends along for the ride, and they always join us. Because we all recognize the need to keep moving forward one step, that is all it takes. One step in a daily practice, one step towards confiding in someone, one step in seeking assistance. It doesn’t matter if the shoe is loose and floppy and unstable, we just need to take a step.

46 Climbs!

We did a thing this weekend, Sarah and I. A little late as the deadline for 46 Climbs was over September 8th, but we had a climb in mind so it was worth the wait and worth doing. If you aren’t sure what 46 Climbs is, check out the link because they say it best http://46climbs.com/#helpconquersuicide . Basically a group of strangers who come together in their own way to bring awareness to suicide prevention. So important as I learned that suicide is now the #2 cause of death in children ages 10-24, the SECOND LEADING cause. NOT OK, not even a little. That is why we climbed, to do our little part. That is why we work to be proactive and on the true preventative side of opening conversations and promoting ways to better mental wellness BEFORE crisis sets in. We hope you continue to join us.

Save the Dates!

Yes, you read that right, DATES! We have multiple and wonderful events coming up that you need to put in your calendar now so you can meet and connect with us.

November 7th-We are excited to offer our first community information event. We will be at General Beadle Elementary that evening providing breakout sessions, you can attend at least 2. We will have drawings for those who attend and look forward to speakers who will help us understand and recognize red flags of mental wellness for all ages and stages in child development.

November 30th-Need some Christmas shopping done and want to go local? We will be at Lost Cabin Beer Co as a featured pop-up store with all our new fall product. Come see us and shop.

December 13th-We are the Co-Sponsors of Star Wars Night with the Rapid City Rush Hockey team. We will be selling Chuck-a-Puck tickets and having a merchandise and informational table, come check it out!

Put these on the calendar now!

Black Hills Farmer's Market

We had a wonderful morning at the local Farmer’s Market. Each week they sponsor a non-profit or informational booth for free, they even had a tent and table for us! We met many new faces and the word for the day should be “curious” as we we had many approach us asking, “tell me more” which was quickly followed with “so badly needed”, meaning the work we do and the need for resources is great.

We hope to attend more of these local events, we even ran out of all our extra product cards, which means at least 30+ strangers left with our vision in their hand.

August 10th

Come check out the Black Hills Farmer’s Market this Saturday, August 10th. We will be there selling our new product items and sharing handouts about our goals and upcoming events and work. We are excited to be the sponsored non-profit booth there this weekend.

market.jpg

TAG time

THIS is always an amazing piece for me, I LOVE when people send me selfies or group pics while wearing our product. I have visions of complete strangers sharing their selfie with us! I did have a co-worker mention that she went house hunting and saw one of our tanks hanging in a bedroom, YESSSSSS. Another person saw a complete stranger wearing one across the room at a kids gymnastics class, double YESSSSS. No matter what, every time someone sends it to me they mention how people ask them what it means which is exactly what we want, ask and share!

Photos and Friends

When you see these winter pics outside, you can’t imagine how cold it was. I think it was one of the most below zero days we had. As mentioned on the Product Gallery page all of our product photos show friends and family. They may be from our work, our gym, our personal lives. They have all been willing to give up time to let Lisa take some pics because we think they make our product look fabulous. Some them even have their own stories and support our work 100% and this always makes me extra happy!

2019 Rowathon

We work to raise both funds and awareness and June 2019 brought our first attempt at a larger scale fundraiser. Lisa and Sarah busted the pavement connecting with community members for donations and we had a great turnout. We raised over $3,000 in our first try and can’t wait to do it again. We even had “Nugget” the mascot for the cities hockey team the Rapid City Rush join us! Click on top pick to advance slideshow.

Launch Night!

When you have a crazy idea, people work together to make it happen! Here is Launch Night February 2019-Yet We Rise begins its journey