PHOTOS: Community Missions, NFMMC present annual interfaith community prayer service for mental illness recovery & understanding

Community Missions Inc. and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center joined together Tuesday to host the seventh annual interfaith community prayer service inside First Congregational United Church of Christ, 822 Cleveland Ave., Niagara Falls. The event was part of Mental Illness Awareness Week, a national event designed to raise public awareness about mental illness, and to encourage those seeking help to do so when needed.

Area leaders offering words of guidance included the Rev. Raymond Allen of Bethany Missionary Baptist Church, president of the Niagara Falls Ministerial Council; Rabbi Ellen Franke of Temple Beth El in Niagara Falls; Pete Hill, community and cultural services director of the Native American Community Services of Erie, and "All Our Relations" project director at Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties; Joyce Sconiers from Niagara Falls Memorial Wellness Center, and God's Woman Vanessa Scott Outreach Ministries Sounds of Praise; the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., president emeritus, Niagara University; the Rev. Mark Breese, agency minister at Community Missions; the Rev. Marna Pritchard, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ; and New York State Sen. Robert Ortt and Assemblyman Angelo Morinello. The event also included a performance by Jonathan Sandberg of Calvary Episcopal Church.

Additional information about mental illness can be found at www.nami.org/Learn-More and www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers.

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