McCutcheon says the successful truck pull will return to future Carman Country Fairs. Photo courtesy Carman Country Fair Facebook page.

$5,000 was raised for mental health awareness and resources this past weekend at the Carman Country Fair. The 2nd annual Truck Pull for Mental Health took place Saturday at the fair grounds with 15 teams registered – 12 adult  teams and 3 junior teams.

“We had a really good turn out, a few less teams for the big trucks than we had last year, but overall we had a lot of people involved and I think everybody had a really good time,” said Warren McCutcheon, one of the event organizers.

Money generated from the fund raiser will stay in Carman.

McCutcheon explained a local mental health initiative has been started and said volunteers will use the funds to run programs in the community and area schools. He added there’s been a real need for this kind of effort in recent years.

“It’s affected a lot of people in our community whether you know it or not and it affects everybody,” said McCutcheon.

He explained there have been a few instances where people in the area have lost loves ones to suicide.

“It hits home with a lot of people in our community and we feel like there’s a bit of a void there.”

McCutcheon said there are some incredible local fund raisers that generate tens of thousands of dollars and help reduce the stigma around cancer and other diseases, and some felt that mental health needed to be supported in this way as well.

“Whether there’s a stigma around it or for whatever reason, we feel it needs to be talked about more and some more money put towards it and have a better plan (of) how to support people and help people that are struggling, and we think grassroots starting here is a good start.”

Donations were also accepted for the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba.

McCutcheon added the truck pull is a fun thing to be a part of and says the successful event will be back in 2019.