A breath of fresh air at fifth annual Family Fun Fair

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Mental Health Awareness of Michiana (MHAM) hosted the fifth annual Family Fun Fair Fri. evening at Howard Park.

The event is all about the community connecting outside, with dozens of local resources focused on physical wellness and mental health setting up booths and activities.

“We as humans do a lot better when we are out in the sun, when we’re doing physical activity, whether it’s jump rope or hula hoop or going for a walk, playing a… game with kids outdoors. All of that helps us to feel better physically and better emotionally,” said the Executive Director of MHAM, Lisa Kelly.

However, many in the younger generations said the online world is often taking priority over outside time.

“Everyone I know is always like doing stuff with social media and… TikTok, Instagram, all that stuff,” said Adi Bowen, a homeschooled 8th grader.

Which is why Anna Stout, an eighth grader at John Young Middle School, said while she is a fan of social media, she likes to find balance.

“If you stay inside cooped up in the house…leaves you… to be depressed… cause if you don’t socialize enough, you can start to push yourself away from people… Finding something you love or like and putting that outdoors if you could, like an instrument, you could go play that outdoors… Recently me and my friends, we plan on going to an anime convention outside and walking around,” said Stout.

Which is exactly what Kelly hopes people learned about at the fair: finding balance.

“We don’t want to say that it’s wrong to sit and read right, or even to do things, productive things inside, but we know there has to be a balance and I think that’s my message about mental health is that it’s okay to do some activities some of the time, but you really do need to get out and get sunshine, try new activities, try new sports,” said Kelly.