L to R: Peter Rollins, John Rollins, Christine Mills, Jeffrey Rollins, Sue Mills (ECMH staff), Rosi Ouellette (ECMH staff), Sandie Sidsworth (ECMH Executive Director), Doug Miles (ECMH Board Member)
The Maurice Rollins family wanted a way to honor and remember their father/grandfather and his legacy as an advocate for mental health, after his recent passing. Maurice had always been very open about his own struggles with depression throughout his life, and it was important to him that others understood what could be achieved in life despite mental health struggles. To continue to build on Maurice’s story of mental health awareness, the family proposed a Maurice Rollins Day of Remembrance in Support of Mental Health.
Maurice Rollins Day of Remembrance in Support of Mental Health was hosted on Wednesday June 16, 2021 from 8am-6pm on Quinte Broadcastings three stations: 800CJBQ, Rock107 and Mix 97. Guests were able to call in and share stories of Maurice and announcers invited the community to call the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health and make a donation in memory of Maurice. All donations received were matched by the Maurice & Marilyn Rollins Foundation. Jack Miller spoke on behalf of the Rollins family and shared his memories of Maurice as a philanthropist, advocate and visionary to kick off the event. Throughout the day local businesses challenged each other, and over 200 individuals called in to donate.
The community donated $38,787.00 which after being matched by the Maurice & Marilyn Rollins Foundation resulted in $77,574.00 being raised for the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health. These funds will go directly back into local front line support. It has enabled the ECMH Community Counselling program to now be fully funded until next year. This program does not receive any government or sustainable funding and pre-pandemic was supported through fundraising dollars. It will also allow for adding an additional day per week to their Trauma Counselling which will help reduce waitlists and enable us to assist more clients.
“The Rollins family would like to thank everyone who participated in making the Maurice Rollins Day of Remembrance such a success. A big thank you to the entire team at Quinte Broadcasting for making this day happen, including Jody Brooker, Sean Kelly and Jack Miller. We also want to thank the incredible staff at the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health, Sandie, Sue, Rosi, Brittany and their amazing team.” – The children of Maurice Rollins
“I am still in awe of the efforts of this community for Maurice. We can’t even begin to share all the amazing stories we heard during the day about Maurice. ECMH cannot begin to explain its gratitude to both the Rollins family and Quinte Broadcasting for a wonderful job” – Sandie Sidsworth, Executive Director, Enrichment Centre for Mental Health
Maurice Rollins Centre of Hope was established in May 2015 and dedicated to community counselling, education and group support at the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health. Initial funding was provided by Maurice Rollins from the proceeds of his biography “The Remarkable Journey of Maurice Rollins” written by Orland French. Copies are still available for purchase at ECMH and the Quinte Arts Council.
Through the years Maurice continued to support the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health with sustainable funding for support groups & workshops and was the reason so many individuals in our community were able to get the mental health services they needed.
Maurice Rollins was a local champion for mental health support. He was also a brave voice in the conversation to break the stigma, and a caring ear when someone needed to talk.