Race Across America Participant Raises More Than $1 Million for Skyland Trail
ATLANTA – Powell Brown, a friend of Skyland Trail participating in the 2019 Race Across America, has raised more than $1 million for Skyland Trail’s evidence-based mental health treatment programs and financial aid scholarships. This is the largest gift Skyland Trail has received to-date through an individual fundraising effort. Through generous donations from 264 individuals and organizations, Brown has raised the funds in only three months.
On June 15, 2019, Brown and a team of seven other cyclists will begin the grueling 3,100-mile bicycle race starting in Oceanside, California, and ending one week later in Annapolis, Maryland. The group expects to travel more than 450 miles per day. Brown is racing with Team FSHD Skyland Trail, which aims to raise awareness and donations for two nonprofit organizations – Skyland Trail and the FSH Society, a nonprofit focused on facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).
“We are raising awareness, helping to erase the stigma associated with mental illness and raising money for education, research, and treatment of these serious disorders which affect so many of our friends, family, and colleagues,” says Brown, President and CEO of Brown & Brown, Inc., a leading insurance brokerage firm that provides risk management solutions to individuals and businesses.
Funds raised by Brown will directly support comprehensive programs at Skyland Trail’s J. Rex Fuqua Campus for adolescents. Currently under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of 2019, the new facility will provide mental health treatment to adolescents ages 14 to 17.
“This incredible gift will have a tremendous impact on the clients and families that Skyland Trail is able to help through holistic, evidence-based treatment, integrated medical care, research, and education,” says Beth Finnerty, President and CEO of Skyland Trail. “We are so thankful for Powell—and those who donated on his behalf—for their commitment to bringing awareness to mental health and their support of Skyland Trail’s mission.”