A nationwide movement for children’s mental health is underway – see how Millcraft’s Buy & Give paper program and Nationwide Children’s Hospital are affecting millions of lives.
Better yet? Share it. You never know who may need it.
Telling friends, family members, parents, teachers, and youth about the existence of On Our Sleeves, the Movement for Children’s Mental Health powered by the experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, furthers its critical mission: to provide kids and families in every community in America with access to free, evidence-informed resources necessary for breaking stigmas around children’s mental health and educating advocates.
Because kids don’t actually wear their thoughts on their sleeves – currently 1 in 5 children ages 3 to 17 in the U.S. have a mental health concern and more than 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 – On Our Sleeves provides resources to facilitate conversations and help kids process what’s really on their minds.
From “Talking to Kids About Current Events” to “How to Help Kids Manage Anxiety” and “Do’s and Don’ts When Talking About Mental Health”, a wealth of resources are available to all, for free, thanks to an alliance of philanthropic donations, partnerships, and relationships with companies who help underwrite the cost of developing the expert resources – including Millcraft’s Buy & Give paper program.
Paper With Purpose
Established in 2014, Millcraft’s Buy & Give initiative grew out of Millcraft’s mission to create meaningful impact within Millcraft’s communities, and to give back to those in need. The program provides businesses the opportunity to support local charities through routine purchases of Millcraft’s Buy & Give brand office paper. For every carton of paper purchased, Millcraft donates $1 to the program.
Since its inception through Millcraft’s 2021 fiscal year, Buy & Give has generated nearly $600,000 within Midwest communities served by select charitable organizations, including Nationwide Children’s Hospital who spearheaded On Our Sleeves in 2018 on World Mental Health Day, October 10.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care networks in the U.S. With nearly 12,000 hospital staff and 673 pediatric beds, the nation’s largest children’s hospital and pediatric research institute resides in the same downtown setting where it was founded in 1892. As stated at their website, “The hospital embodies its century-old mission to provide the best care for all children regardless of their family's ability to pay, a commitment that has never changed.”
Millcraft Vice President and Columbus Regional Manager Eric Michel says the decision to select Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2015 as the Columbus region’s designated Buy & Give Paper program beneficiary was unanimous—and was affected by a personal experience for Michel. When his daughter was just 5 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia, later discovered to be Epstein-Barr virus. “We practically lived at that hospital for months,” Michel says. “Our family was surrounded by love, and they genuinely cared about my daughter. It’s great work, what they do.”
Together With Nationwide Children’s Hospital and On Our Sleeves®
“We are proud beneficiaries of Millcraft’s Buy & Give program, and we look forward to celebrating our partnership every year,” Senior Vice President, Outreach of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Niki Shafer says. “Millcraft’s Buy & Give program is a very creative way to involve their associates and customers in being able to give back to local communities and causes.”
Michel says Millcraft’s relationship with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and On Our Sleeves has inspired and energized Millcraft sales teams. “It’s not just selling copy paper, it’s more than a job now,” Michel says. “The conversation around Buy & Give paper has become ‘Let’s go out and talk about giving back to the community and helping kids’.”
Since 2014 and through 2021, Millcraft’s Buy & Give program has provided nearly $74,000 to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Buy & Give donations have been directed to On Our Sleeves since 2019, and Millcraft has generated more than $35,000 for the initiative:
- Nearly 3 million people have interacted with On Our Sleeves content since 2018
- In May of 2021, during Mental Health Awareness Month, On Our Sleeves set a goal to reach one million classrooms with free children’s health resources – data shows that resources were accessed in all 50 states and 1,020,654 classrooms.
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On Our Sleeves “Share Your Feelings” lesson plan, created with mental health advocates including the Harlem Globetrotters, offers kids ways to cope with stress and has been downloaded more than 33,000 times.
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The On Our Sleeves clinical team has been featured in national and international media outlets, including New York Times and Headline News, creating more than 145 mentions and 20.39 million media impressions.
Business is Personal
“It’s more than just a business relationship,” Michel says of Millcraft’s Buy & Give beneficiaries. “It’s personal to us. These are our friends, our communities, too. We want to make an impact, we want to give back.”
Michel’s daughter, once a patient at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is today a healthy woman in her thirties. When her son recently began showing symptoms of behavioral issues, Michel shared what he knew could be of help to his daughter and grandson: On Our Sleeves.
Better yet? Share it. You never know who may need it.
By: Jen W. O’Deay
To learn more about the Buy & Give program in your area, Just ask.