Mental health fundraiser connects through art

A Kelowna artist who proposed to do as many portraits as possible in one year accomplished 218 works to benefit charity.

Jessica Hedricks wanted to do something to raise money to support mental health services in Kelowna.

Painting more than 200 portraits was no easy feat for Hedricks, who found out shortly after she committed to the project that she was pregnant.

“It was definitely touch and go for a while there,” Hedricks said.

The portraits were auctioned off Thursday night, with the hopes of raising at least $30,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) Kelowna branch.

“We were just overwhelmed and humbled and so honoured to be chosen for this project,” Candace Giesbrecht with the CMHA said.

“It created conversation, and conversation is what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make it OK to talk about mental health. We want to bring the struggles that are accompanied with mental illness out of the darkness. We want to make it OK for people to say, ‘Sometimes I’m OK, sometimes I’m not. And when I’m not it’s OK to ask for help.'”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It created conversation, and conversation is what we're trying to do. We're trying to make it OK to talk about mental health. We want to bring the struggles that are accompanied with mental illness out of the darkness. We want to make it OK for people to say, 'Sometimes I'm OK, sometimes I'm not. And when I'm not it's OK to ask for help.'"

Everyone from civic leaders to homeless people were part of the portrait project.