2023 Hill Family Foundation Annual Report
The Hill Family Foundation would like to thank all our 2023 Mental Wellness Project sponsors, especially the Grant Hill Memorial fund contributions designated for the Kids-To-Love Mark C. Smith Wellness Center, Home of the Grant Hill Trauma Team. Kids-To-Love Mental Wellness Center Site Engineers are finalizing permits, architecture, and room configurations for the 10,000+ square foot facility at 140 Castle Drive. Sponsorship opportunities for counseling and observation rooms are still available to help expand the staff for the newly hired (Clinical Psychiatry Certified) Wellness Center Executive Director.
Kids-To-Love Wellness Center
The Kids-To-Love Wellness Center's $3M capital fundraiser campaign is 73% funded at $2.2M. We encourage everyone to contribute to the Grant Hill Memorial Fund to help sponsor additional counseling rooms and professional counselors at the new facility. Hill Foundation will match dollar-for-dollar all 2023 year-end contributions up to $50,000. Hill Foundation has raised $250,000 for the new mental care facility, and your continued investment will accelerate facility capabilities and staffing.
Grant Hill Memorial Golf Tournament
The June 2023 2nd Annual Grant Hill Memorial Golf Tournament raised $105,700 for the Mental Wellness Center. The Kids-To-Love team assisted onsite at Cherokee Ridge Country Club to help make the event a tremendous success. 40 Teams participated in the event, and we especially thank our Platinum Sponsors (DC Capital Partners, Torch Technologies, MTSI, Twickenham Financial Advisors, Willbrook Solutions ), Gold Sponsors (PIPAYA, Huntsville and Madison County Rowing and Water Sports), and Silver Sponsors (KODA Technologies, KROLL, MOBIUS, Morell Engineering, SIMTECH, WHEELS UP, BCI Construction, Green Acres Contracting).
3rd Annual Grant Hill Memorial Golf Tournament
Mark your calendars for the 14th of June, 2024, as Cherokee Ridge Country Club will host the 3rd Annual Grant Hill Memorial Golf Tournament Event. This event will help enhance local mental health care and make a positive difference in the lives of our community's youth. Make sure to join us and be a part of this great cause!
Christ Health Therapy Training Master Class Series
Hill Family Foundation sponsored $100,000 for Christ Health and continues to work closely with Christ Health Center in Birmingham by producing psychiatric professional training master classes. Each episode provides a foundation for equipping counselors with skills to recognize characteristics, track trends, and administer therapeutic techniques for a full spectrum of youth mental health illnesses. Over Ten 30-minute professional training episodes are currently in production, with more in 2024.
2023 Huntsville High School Grant Hill Memorial Scholarships
Hill Family Foundation awarded $10,000 in scholarships to Huntsville High School (HHS) Scholarship Winners Todd Christopher Whitmire and Seth Metera Lawson, both deserving Football and Track Scholar Athletes.
Todd Whitmire played football as a two-year starter at HHS Defensive End and served as Captain his Senior Year with a GPA of 4.3 and an ACT of 33. Todd is a decorated wrestler, placing at the Top in the AHSSA State competition (Junior Year – 2nd 182 lb) and (Senior Year – 4th 220lb). Todd is attending Samford University pursuing a degree in accounting, with goals for the future to join the military and become an aviator.
Seth Lawson played football and track and field at Huntsville High School and excelled at both, finishing in the AHSAA State Track Meet Shotput Finals. Seth is attending the University of West Alabama and is on the football team, getting playing time with the first team. Seth is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Management. Seth trains with the same athletic trainer used by the Hill Family, Dallas Terrell. Seth competed in HHS track and worked exceptionally hard as a thrower to learn the technique and skills quickly. Seth finished 6th at 7A Indoor and 7A Outdoor State Meets.
2023 University of Alabama (UAH) Update
2023 University of Alabama (UAH) Update: Hill Family Foundation sponsored $85,000 toward local universities through funding talented coaches with mental health care backgrounds. Coach Terria Russell was recently hired by the UAH track team as an expert track and field throw coach. Ms. Russell has experience in behavioral therapy and brings a wealth of knowledge as a college throws record holder from Florida International University in multiple highly specialized events, including hammer, discus, shotput, and javelin. Hill Foundation also contributed to throws clinics hosted at Alabama A&M University in October with local high school athletes.
Specialized Psychiatric Therapy Equipment & Techniques
Hill Family Foundation contributed $10,000 toward the Huntsville Hospital Foundation (HHF) "Huntsville Classic" at Orion Theater to raise capital for specialized equipment in Huntsville. We continue working with HHF to expand care for high-risk emergency center patients with psychiatric care needs. We will also be helping with planning for expanding specialized equipment to enable psychiatric intervention through techniques such as (TMS) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy. TMS shows promising results for patients with severe depression and high anxiety, with a high probability of recovery, compressing therapy timelines with thousands of cycles of treatment in a short duration.
2024 Bringing Hope and Healing Into Our Future
Currently, local resources are not adequate to treat youth recovering from trauma and tragedy, requiring families to travel up to 100 miles for care. (See Map) We are working hard to reverse this trend and inspire our mental health capabilities throughout Alabama to recruit and retain highly trained professionals in our area.
We aim to provide more accessible Faith-based Counseling and network specialized mental health care services across North Alabama until the day there are no families without the support, healing, and encouragement they need to overcome their mental illness.
The Hill Family Foundation will continue researching state-of-the-art mental health therapies and techniques that provide real healing rather than just treating the symptoms, leading to lasting recovery in the hearts and minds of everyone we have the honor to serve.
