Fundraiser honoring Oswego teen to raise awareness about mental health

Oswego East High School senior Mark Chapas Jr. was the type of person who was willing to give a helping hand to everyone he met.

Unfortunately, the varsity football player didn’t reach out for help when he needed it the most. He took his own life in 2021 at the age of 18.

To honor his memory and to help teens needing mental health support, his mother Angie Chapas and aunt Ashley Gunderson created the nonprofit 71 Reasons and More Foundation in August 2022. The organization’s name refers to the number on his football jersey, 71.

To support 71 Reasons and More Foundation’s mission of bringing mental health and suicide awareness into local schools and provide scholarships for youth in need, the group will hold its second annual bowling fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Parkside Lanes, 34W185 Montgomery Road, Aurora.

The event will also feature basket raffles, a 50/50 raffle, a live DJ and a silent auction. Tickets are $30, which include bowling, shoe rental, pizza and pop for one bowler.

Tickets are available at https://tinyurl.com/5n6h97tm and they also wil be sold at the door. Last year’s inaugural event attracted 230 people and raised more than $10,000.

Chapas hopes even more people will attend this year’s event and that they raise at least as much as they did last year. It is the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year.

“Parkside Lanes can hold 270 people, so if we can fill it this year, that would make me even more ecstatic,” she said. “I’m hoping every year we can grow.”

The group is trying to provide help for teens along with educating people about the problems that teens face. In June, it held an event at Oswegoland Senior and Community Center featuring two guest speakers talking about their experiences being bullied.

Chapas wants to get young people the help they need. She is distraught every time she hears about a young person who has died by suicide.

“I don’t want to see any families go through this,” she said. “I really don’t. It breaks my heart every time I hear something, where it could have been prevented and it should have been prevented and it wasn’t.”

The group’s vision is to have a community center/safe zone for youth and young adults to use. The center would provide free mental health services, activities and resources in a judgement-free zone.

As a way to educate people about the group and what it does, the 71 Reasons and More Foundation had a booth at the Oswegoland Park District’s PrairieFest this summer and also will have booths at the upcoming Boone County Fair and Sandwich Fair.

“We have a donor who pays for our booth space,” Chapas said.

The foundation is in need of more volunteers. To volunteer or for more information about 71 Reasons and More Foundation, go to its website at 71reasonsandmore.org.

“We’re doing this for the love of doing something good,” she said. “It’s a close knit community that’s really trying to make a change.”