Gearing up for the 3rd annual Impact Festival

BRIDGEVILLE, Del. – The third annual Impact Festival returns, a day of positivity focused on mental health awareness.

It’s been almost eleven years since high school student Chase Marvil, founded the Inspiring Project, a social media movement meant to address bullying, spread positivity, and educate the youth and community on mental health.

From there, scholarships, partnerships, and a mental health festival sprouted. Now, Marvil is ready to bring it back with the same intentions, to address mental health, and raise money for organizations with a similar mission. “We have the adventure park with the inflatables for the kids, there’s going to be carnival games, vendors, food vendors, craft vendors, face paintings, and a petting zoo,” says Marvil. He adds, “I hope people will come out and be able to support our mission, have a good time, and get the resources out there for mental health awareness.”

Mental health awareness has been Marvil’s mission from the beginning. He tells WMDT, that while the day is meant to bring the community together, each year becomes clearer just how many people are being affected by mental health, especially through social media.

He says if he’s learned anything through his project, it’s okay to not be okay, but you have to know when to reach out for help. “They need to know that there are resources out there to help them for that because it’s better to help them when it first starts than to wait however long it is and something God awful happens,” says Marvil.

There will be plenty of mental health-related resources such as DSCYF and the wellness center from Bayhealth.

The festival is on Saturday, August 3rd at the Bridgeville public library from 11 to 4 p.m. More information can be found by visiting the Impact Festival event page on Facebook.