Every year, to mark Sophie’s birthday on August 23 we launch our annual fundraising appeal. Please consider making a donation today to support The Sophie Fund’s work aiding the mental health of young people in the Ithaca and Tompkins County communities. 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.
Thank you for being part of our collective mental health mission!
To Make a Donation:
Click Here for The Sophie Fund Donation Page
Current goals in need of funding include:
—Training in mental health and suicide prevention for Ithaca-area clinicians, social workers, and community members. This includes The Wellness Institute’s annual suicide prevention conference next March; discrete training modules for evidence-based treatment protocols such as Safety Planning and Lethal Means Counseling; and a forum to engage our local primary care practices in suicide prevention. We have now trained more than 250 clinicians in Tompkins County, including the entire counseling center staffs of Cornell University and Ithaca College.
—Production, printing, and distribution costs for mental health guides designed for the local Tompkins County community, including: Mental Health Support and Suicide Prevention for Schools in Tompkins County; A Parent’s Guide to College Student Mental Health; A Student’s Guide to College Mental Health (in production); Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families; Be Safe at College; Mental Health and Crisis Services Tompkins County.
A few highlights of The Sophie Fund’s activities over the past 12 months:
—In March, The Sophie Fund financially sponsored the participation of 56 Tompkins County healthcare professionals in a two-day online suicide prevention training featuring some of the nation’s leading experts.
—The Sophie Fund partnered with the Ithaca Beer Co. during Mental Health Awareness Month in May to highlight the mental health information and treatment resources that are available in Tompkins County.
—In our annual “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign, we collaborated with five Cornell University student organizations to collect $1,119.00 for the Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR) organization.
—The Sophie Fund co-sponsored the 4th annual Better Together for Mental Health festival in May in Stewart Park. We provided a grant to the Family Reading Partnership to provide free copies of Between You and Me, a children’s picture book celebrating friendship.
—Four students in the Master of Public Health program at Cornell University produced public health communications projects for The Sophie Fund: A Student’s Guide to College Mental Health; Recipes to Make When You Reeaally Don’t Feel Like Cooking; and two social media campaigns, “Winter Wellness Tips” and an English-Chinese posts directing international students to mental health resources.
—As a member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council we contributed to the development of the New York State Suicide Prevention Plan (to be released in September); and to oversight of a $3.5 million federal SAMHSA grant to advance the Zero Suicide Model in 40 Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) throughout New York State.
—The Sophie Fund received the 2025 Friend of Children Award from the New York Association of School Psychologists at NYASP’s annual conference in November.
—The Sophie Fund hosted the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest, alongside our mental health fair, in the Ithaca Commons in October. We celebrated a decade of Ithaca cupcakes with a photo exhibition depicting highlights of the contest through the years.
For more information on The Sophie Fund’s work, please visit:
Thank You!
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