This and that on a summer Saturday
Behind a new app for mental health awareness. Dining Divas at (not on) Tick Tock. Offer stands for free month of Based in Lafayette by chipping in for CASAs for Kids Fund/Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge
Today’s edition is sponsored by Food Finders Food Bank. Food Finders invests 96 cents of every dollar raised into programs that serve hungry children, seniors and families throughout North Central Indiana. Find out how you can help here: www.food-finders.org/get-involved/donate
Some this and some of that for a Saturday morning …
BEHIND A NEW APP FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
The family of Ankit Toppo will mark the second anniversary of his death with a concert, candlelight tribute and an evening devoted to mental health awareness Saturday in downtown Lafayette.
Toppo’s death, at age 20 in July 2022, led to his mother, Pushpa Toppo, and sister, Rachel, to create the nonprofit Ankit Foundation Corp. as a way to increase awareness about resources available to deal with mental health.
Here’s a conversation with Pushpa Toppo about how that effort’s gone in the past two years.
Question: With other organizations also focused on mental health in Greater Lafayette, where and how does the Ankit Foundation fit in and how does it work to provide the most beneficial help?
Pushpa Toppo: At this present time, our community is blessed with some organizations that focus on mental health in Greater Lafayette. However, when you have a family member suffering with mental health issues, you don’t have time, mental and physical energy to explore all resources. Ankit Foundation Corp. was started to address the challenges I experienced during the mental health journey of my son. Bringing the existing mental health resources to the people who are in need is one of the missions of the Ankit Foundation Corp. We made community mental health resource folders, which have the most useful mental health organizations’ information with QR codes which lead to that organization in Tippecanoe County.
Question: In the past few years, what have you learned about mental health needs in Greater Lafayette? What are the most pressing ones?
Pushpa Toppo: Mental health awareness. Mental health stigma. Mental health available resources we have in our community may not be utilized at the fullest potential. There’s a high possibility of a person with mental illness being criminalized due to not identifying and recognizing their medical diagnosis of mental illness, and obstacles and challenges in receiving proper mental health treatment. Not getting proper treatment navigation, connected with all the existing resources available in the community timely manner and support required for successful results. Nonexistence of subacute/post hospitalization facilities to monitor and supervise psychotropic medication and to prepare a person for appropriate discharge placement for successful community reintegration and to save lives. Please see the bill petition page on our website for more details of this. Ankit Foundation has collected about 500 signatures from people, personally and at our website in our community and it is still active.
Question: One thing you introduced in the past year was a new app, Ankit’s Hope. How did that come about? And what is it equipped to do?
Pushpa Toppo: After establishing community mental health resources folders, I had to think how these resources could be more accessible to our youth and young adults and how I could bring resources to the people in need outside of Tippecanoe County. Then the idea of this unique app came to my mind, as most of the people carry their phone with them, especially our youth and young adults. They are so used to using apps all the time. I thought this would be a great resource, to bring the most common resources which are free or Medicaid acceptable in the palm of our young generation and with the confidentiality within their own devices.
This app has mental health resources of most useful organizations at one platform. People can search mental health resources and treatment after they enter either the name of the county or ZIP code. This app is also equipped to perform simple PHQ-9 depression screen so people can keep track of their mental health and their progress or severity. It also has 988 calls for mental health. It includes all the counties in Indiana. Currently, our team is working on state of Ohio.
Question: How many times has the app been downloaded? And are you able to tell how often it is used?
Pushpa Toppo: 82 for IOS, 38 for Android.
Question: Tell us a bit about your son. And about Saturday’s event.
Pushpa Toppo: My son was very brilliant, smart and bright student. He loved music, drawing and had great leadership qualities. He started Bobcat TV in his elementary school. He wrote a book with cartoon drawings and tried to publish it in his 4th grade. He participated in 4-H, soccer, track, wrestling, speech, debate and a high school musical. He loved music and wrote and composed some songs. We will be playing one of his songs during the Candlelight Tribute.
The purpose of Saturday’s event is to spread mental health awareness, increase empowerment and resilience in our youth and young adults in our community and provide mental health resources in our community.
Question: What message are you hoping to get across, both this weekend and into the coming year with the foundation?
Pushpa Toppo: There are help and resources for mental health, and Ankit Foundation Corp. is trying to make those resources more accessible and user friendly. By continuing advocating for mental health improvement, we certainly can make positive changes together. Family members really need to advocate and support their loved ones as they are not able to do themselves. Subacute/post-hospitalization facilities are the key for mental health success at the present time. People suffering with mental illness do not need jail, they need more mental health care and if they get in legal system, they need professional legal assistance to navigate their journey to become successful and responsible citizens.
Question: What other context should we know or that you’d like to add here?
Pushpa Toppo: By taking a small step in mental health awareness, removing stigma and advocating for better mental health care in our country, we will gradually bring successful changes. Ankit Foundation Corp., which was started by a mother and a sister, is a small effort to address mental health challenges and to bring some positive changes in mental health care in our communities. A thousand-mile journey begins with one step.
If you go: The second annual Candlelight Tribute and Concert for Mental Health Awareness, in memory of Ankit Toppo, will be 7-10 p.m. Saturday, July 27, at Riehle Plaza at Second and Main streets in Lafayette, and the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge. Spontaneous Hopeful Monster will play at 7 p.m. at Riehle Plaza. A candlelight tribute will be 9-10 p.m. on the Myers Pedestrian Bridge. The event is free. For more details about the tribute or the Ankit Foundation, here’s a link.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
BRAUN’S PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX PLAN: This came Friday, via Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Whitney Downard: “Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Braun — Indiana’s junior U.S. senator — on Friday released a proposal to reform the state’s property tax system, which is among Hoosiers’ top concerns following back-to-back, double-digit increases in assessed values. However, the two-page plan — which came from the Indiana Republican Party and not directly from his campaign — didn’t include any fiscal analysis, nor did either group respond when asked for the impact on government coffers. The four-pillar proposal includes immediate property tax cuts for homeowners as well as introducing a cap to limit future growth.” For a closer look, here’s the full story: “Republican gubernatorial nominee Braun releases property tax proposal.”
MORE ON THE TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: The Associated Press reported this Friday: “Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump’s near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president’s ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president’s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally. ‘What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,’ the agency said in a statement.” For more, here’s the full AP account: “FBI says Trump was indeed struck by bullet during assassination attempt.”
REPORT OUT ON IU PROTESTS OVER GAZA: Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Mia Hilkowitz had this about a new 77-page report from law firm Cooley LLP about how IU handled demonstrations on campus in April that wound up with state police taking out an encampment and making dozens of arrests. From her opening: “Almost three months after police arrested 57 protesters at a pro-Palestine encampment at Indiana University-Bloomington, a new independent review released Thursday found the university’s inconsistent enforcement of its own policies created ‘confusion and frustration’ and made governing the campus difficult.” For more from the report: “IU releases review of April protest activity and enforcement.”
DINING DIVAS AND DUDES AT (NOT ON) TICK TOCK
Dining Divas and Dudes is a team that has been reporting and rating new restaurants, hidden gems, international fare and updated menus from old favorites for years now at homeofpurdue.com. Here at Based in Lafayette, we feature some of Dining Divas and Dudes’ latest finds. Recently, they hit the Tick Tock Tavern, 1816 N. Ninth St. in Lafayette, “where it’s been beer thirty since 1947.” From the review: “If you’re the kinda guy that requires a chicken dinner at 6 a.m., this is for you. If you’re the kinda gal that likes pancakes at 10 p.m., this is for you. If you like a place where you can watch a game, drink a beer and get your eggs over easy, then this is for you.”
Read the full Dining Divas and Dudes post/review here: “At the Tick Tavern.”
AND, FINALLY A REMINDER … EXTEND YOUR BASED IN LAFAYETTE SUBSCRIPTION BY CHIPPING FOR CASAs FOR KIDS FUND
Signups continue for the 2024 edition of the Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge, a 24-hour event held Aug. 10-11 at the two-mile Subaru of Indiana Automotive test track in Lafayette. Some remnant of the Bangert Brothers team will be there, again, at least to put in some ceremonial laps and lend support to the CASAs for Kids Fund here in Tippecanoe County.
The CASAs for Kids Fund is set up for abused or neglected kids who wind up in the court system and in foster care, offering funding for clothing, bedding, school band instruments, field trip or summer camp fees, dance class, equipment to join sports teams and other things the system can’t provide. The CASAs for Kids Fund gets them that stuff and gets them that much closer to a normal life as a kid. And fundraising tied to the 24-hour ride gets the CASAs for Kids Fund geared up for the next year.
This year, I’ll add a free month to your full-access Based in Lafayette subscription for a donation of any amount to the Bangert Brothers team or team members. If you’re game, here’s the link.
Thanks again to Food Finders Food Bank for sponsoring today’s edition. Find out how you can help the Food Finders mission here: www.food-finders.org/get-involved/donate
Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.
Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
I would like candidates to provide complete information on property tax. Indiana residents need to know how income and Cost of living compares with other states. Seems just saying property tax in Indiana is lower than other states is pretty narrow. How much of personal income is paid in property tax? Also when property tax increases (via assessment or percentage increases ) how does that affect low income residents that may Never be able to own their own property?