We mark Sophie’s birthday every August with our annual fundraising appeal.
This year we are suggesting something a little bit different: Consider a donation to the Cayuga Swim for Mental Health, a community fundraiser to benefit The Sophie Fund.
In 2024, we were approached by two remarkable women, veteran marathon swimmers (one of them has done the English Channel), announcing their plan for a joint swim the entire 38-mile length of Cayuga Lake. They set the date for August 8-9, 2025
Claire de Boer and Bridgette Hobart have both lost young nephews to suicide, Rowan and Corey, and proposed using this swim in their memory to collect donations for The Sophie Fund.
Claire de Boer and Bridgette Hobart at Cayuga Lake (Credit: Alex Bayer/Cornell University)
Read about their remarkable aquatic achievements and passion for supporting suicide prevention in the Cornell Chronicle.
Please consider a donation today to the Cayuga Swim for Mental Health to support The Sophie Fund’s work aiding the mental health of young people in the Ithaca and Tompkins County communities.
To Make a Donation:
Click Here for the Cayuga Swim for Mental Health
(Direct donations to The Sophie Fund, at THIS LINK, are always welcome, of course.)
100% of donations go directly toward the grants we provide to mental health providers and community organizations for training and programming; and to our modest operating costs.
Although Sophie was never a marathoner, she was a happy early swimmer: here she is, age 2, plunging into a pool in South Africa where was was born in 1992.
The Sophie Fund’s current goals in need of funding include:
—Suicide prevention training for physicians, clinicians, and social workers.
—Hosting a forum introducing the Zero Suicide Model to Tompkins County primary care practices.
—Publishing local mental health guides: Mental Health Support & Suicide Prevention for Schools in Tompkins County; A Parent’s Guide to College Student Mental Health; A Student’s Guide to College Student Mental Health; and Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families in Tompkins County.
—Tompkins County’s “United in Kindness” community events in October for National Bullying Prevention Month, organized by the Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force which The Sophie Fund coordinates.
—Hosting our 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18 to raise awareness about mental health challenges and supports; this year’s event will include a one-hour presentation by the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Some of The Sophie Fund’s recent activities:
Tompkins County Suicide Care Pathway. As coordinator of the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s Healthcare Work Group, we moderated a roundtable of healthcare leaders on April 23 to map the suicide care pathway in the county. Twenty leaders from 13 organizations representing hospitals, campus health centers, primary care practices, behavioral health clinics, crisis responders, emergency departments, and inpatient units participated in the initiative.
Cupcake Button Campaign. Our 2024 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign with Cornell University student organizations collected $1,055.00 for the Ithaca Free Clinic. The clinic provides medical and other health services to clients regardless of their ability to pay. Participating groups included Cornell Circle K; Pre-Professional Association Towards Careers in Health (PATCH); Alpha Phi Omega Gamma Chapter; and Cornell Minds Matter.
Sexual Assault Awareness. The Cornell University student organization RISEUP and The Sophie Fund launched a social media campaign in April to promote Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Together we created and posted infographics on our platforms about resources to contact for help, behaviors to recognize, plans of action, general statistics about sexual assault, and more.
Suicide Prevention Training. For the fourth year in a row, we sponsored the participation of Tompkins County healthcare professionals in a two-day online suicide prevention training featuring some of the nation’s leading experts. “Suicide Safer Care in Clinical Practice,” organized by The Wellness Institute, took place on March 19-20. The training covered treating youth suicidality, lethal means counseling, brief interventions, treatment pathways, and other topics. Since 2022, The Sophie Fund has now provided free suicide prevention training through The Wellness Institute for more than 200 clinicians in Tompkins County, including the counseling center staffs of Cornell University and Ithaca College.
Mental Health Support & Suicide Prevention for Schools in Tompkins County. This is a guide to local resources, training opportunities, and toolkits for strategic planning for student mental health and suicide prevention. The guide was developed by The Sophie Fund, Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes, Mental Health Association in Tompkins County, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York.
5 Simple Steps. The Sophie Fund partnered with local organizations to design a self-help pocket guide for navigating a mental health crisis. It is based on the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. NAMI Finger Lakes received a grant to print 1,000 copies of the guide in sticker format so be posted in school bathrooms etc.
Bullying Prevention Task Force. In our capacity as coordinator of the task force, we participated in seven meetings of a group at South Hill Elementary School working on a bullying prevention strategy for the 2025-26 school year.
Better Together for Mental Health. The Sophie Fund was a co-sponsor again in May 2025 of the annual mental health festival in Stewart Park. We provided funds for the Family Activities Pavilion, which hosted children-focused activities including story-telling, crafts, and games. The Family Reading Partnership gave away free copies of the illustrated children’s book “How Starling Got his Speckles,” also with sponsorship from The Sophie Fund.
Walks for Mental Health. We participated and provided an information tables at the fundraising walks in Spring 2025: NAMI Finger Lakes walk in Stewart Park and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention campus walk at Cornell University.
The Sophie Fund was established in 2016 as a nonprofit advocacy organization supporting mental health initiatives aiding young people in the Ithaca area. We are a member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council, and recipient of several honors: 2018 New York State Excellence in Suicide Prevention Award; 2023 MHANYS Friend of MHA Award; 2024 Agda Osborn Award; and 2024 James J. Byrnes Award for Excellence.
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