Best-Selling Author and Speaker Nora McInerny Delivered Powerful Talk at Grant Halliburton Foundation’s Annual Beacon of Hope Virtual Luncheon
The 2021 Beacon of Hope Honorary Chairs Karen and Mark Carney hosted a luncheon gathering at their home, including guests Barb Farmer, luncheon Founder, and Polly Campbell, chairman of the board.
Grant Halliburton Foundation welcomed Nora McInerny, best-selling author and podcast host, to share her personal story at the Beacon of Hope at Home Virtual Luncheon on Friday, April 30.
Presented by The David B. Miller Family Foundation, the luncheon supports Grant Halliburton Foundation’s work providing education, resources, and support for children, teen and young adult mental health.
Kylie Hughitt and Jessica Slay, LPC-S were luncheon chairs; honorary chairs were Karen and Mark Carney; and Barb Farmer is the founding luncheon chair. CICI Edwards, an award-winning slam poet/spoken word artist, gave a riveting performance about mental health. Steve Noviello, FOX 4 reporter, served as the luncheon emcee.
Eric Nadel, voice of the Texas Rangers, and The Sopranos actress Jamie Lynn Sigler both gave recorded messages urging viewers to support the Foundation’s work of providing hope and healing.
Vanita Halliburton, Grant Halliburton Foundation co-founder and executive chairman, spoke about supporting the organization she co-founded after losing her teen son to suicide 15 years ago.
“I hope you will consider giving to the Foundation because you believe in the future we envision and strive for,” Halliburton said during her welcome remarks. “A future where suicide is no longer the second leading cause of death for 10-year-olds to 24-year-olds. A future where stigma is a thing of the past, and no one is ashamed to seek help for depression, anxiety or other brain disorders. A future where people know the signs of suicidal crisis as well as they know the signs of an oncoming cold—and know how to get help. A future where children grow up to be resilient, healthy, strong adults.”
Halliburton presented the Beacon Award to Sharon Grigsby, The Dallas Morning News Metro columnist who has written extensively on mental health and suicide in North Texas.
McInerny, best-selling author of memoirs It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too), No Happy Endings and The Hot Young Widows Club, shared about her life’s difficult journey.
“Seven years ago, I was having a bad year: I miscarried, my dad died, and then my husband died,” McInerny said, recounting her story.
When people asked her how she was doing, she would say, “fine.” She used the question, “how are you?” and her least favorite four-letter-word—one that she bans from her blended family of two teens and a 4 and 8 year old—as the basis of her talk.
“We answer a big meaningful question—'how are you’—with the reply ‘fine’ and turn it into small talk,” McInerny said. “We don’t want to be a burden, a bummer, and we don’t want your pity.”
Yet, McInerny believes the honest truth is better than lying, a reason why she named her subsequent podcast, Terrible, Thanks for Asking. Her podcast is designed to get to the honest truth to the question, “How are you?”
“Bring the honest truth,” McInerny added. “Model that truth. To be able to sit with our pain or somebody else’s and to validate it, that’s what keeps us going. The answer could be ‘I’m struggling.’”
She also discussed suicide and her own teen’s battle with anxiety and depression.
“Suicide is a parent’s worse nightmare,” McInerny said. “Our kids are not weird or wrong or strange. Growing hurts. Grownups don’t have all the answers, but we’ll help and show up.”
In the last 15 years, Grant Halliburton Foundation has provided mental health education, training and support to more than 200,000 students, educators, parents, and professionals, thanks to funds raised in part by the annual Beacon of Hope event. The Foundation also offers two free community tools to help North Texans find mental health and addiction information and resources:
HereForTexas.com is a website with a searchable database of more than 900 North Texas providers, designed to help people make informed decisions about mental health and addiction care.
The Here For Texas Mental Health Navigation Line is a helpline that offers people personal assistance with finding providers and resources that match their needs. Help is just a free phone call away at 972-525-8181, and Spanish speakers are available.
Special thanks to the Beacon of Hope at Home sponsors:
Beacon Sponsor
The David B. Miller Family Foundation
Visionary Sponsors
Shelley and Jeff Becker, Karen and Mark Carney, Barb and David Farmer, and the Todd Abbott Memorial Fund
Advocate Sponsors
BKM Sowan Horan, Matejek Family Foundation, Alyson and Joe Ray, Lisa K. Simmons, and the Rene and Jimmy Wisch Family Charitable Fund of the Dallas Jewish Family Foundation
Friend Sponsors
Vanita and Terry Briley, Debbie and David Fosdick, Kevin and Sharon Hall, Cindi and Alan Halliburton, Parish Episcopal School, and The Fullbrook Center
SUPPORTER
Becca Bishop, Dianna and Ed Bratton, Isabel Brooks, David Burch, Kathy Clark, the Fran and Jeffrey Toubin Philanthropic Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, Karen Goetting, Heidi and Tim Perry, Susan and Jon Piot, Sherry Stone, and Lynn Wisdom