A LIVE CIRQUE PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS LYLS

Victoria Nash • August 3, 2021

Are you ready for a dazzling array of colors to fill a room against the backdrop of stilt walker, a cyr wheelist rolling across the floor, an aerialist and other roaming acrobatic performances.


Just in case you haven’t heard, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health’s (C&A) Annual Let Your Light Shine (LYLS) Event is on Aug. 14, 2021, starting at 6 p.m. What a great outing to close the summer season and prepare for the new school year. Where else will you and your friends be able to relax, enjoy a nice dinner, watch a live Cirque performance presented by Down To Earth Aerials and bid on exciting auction items.

This year, C&A Board Member Mike Gallina will be the emcee and auctioneer for our live auction. Highlights of the live auction feature two fantastic vacation destinations on the opposite sides of the country and Art from the Classroom. The trips include:


  • A four-day, three-night Las Vegas trip which includes airfare and a Visa Gift card;
  • A seven-day, seven-night Orlando vacation which includes airfare and activity vouchers; and
  • Art from Classroom is created by clients in our four offices.

This year’s silent auction features unique, family activities that will provide exceptional experiences and great memories. Additional auction items deliberately chosen so that everyone’s interests will be piqued include wireless Bluetooth electric smoker, kayak with paddles, kitchen sets, spa packages, a variety of women’s purses by Kate Spade, Coach and Michael Khors, men’s watches, women’s jewelry, an ice cream maker and many more intriguing items.

Due to the pandemic last year, LYLS pivoted from in-person to online, which made attendees more tech-savvy. Therefore, this year’s event will be a hybrid event. Starting Aug. 7, the agency will open the online bidding for auction items to the public. If you are already not preregistered, you create your account and then begin bidding on items. At the auction, we will continue with the online bidding which will allow all attendees to watch their items and continue to bid while enjoying delicious food and live entertainment. LYLS event attendees will be able to participate in the Live Auction, so make sure to purchase your tickets to be able to bid on our exciting Live Auction items.


The agency is thrilled to highlight some of the amazing work done by C&A throughout the year. This past May, C&A sponsored its third annual Stark County Mental Health Schools Week. For the first time this year, the agency created a unity video from 12 Stark County Partner School Districts. Overall, the agency introduced 21 Student Mental Health Champions. Each year, C&A strives to add to our partner list and create a strong community within Stark County to promote healthy lives for all our students. The agency’s work does not stop with our local schools but expands to the five Stark County colleges and universities – Kent State University -Stark Campus, Malone University, University of Mount Union, Stark State College and Walsh University. Each year, the agency coordinates with the colleges and universities to host a Mental Health Day with activities and information to increase mental health awareness and acceptance among the campuses.


Monica Gwin, the auction team chaired by Jen Frey and the Mission Advancement Office have worked tirelessly to create a night you surely will not forget. Thank you to all our sponsors who have helped to make this night happen. We want to highlight our Beacon Sponsor – The Repository, Shine Sponsors – PPI Graphics & The Hoover Foundation and Sparkle Sponsors – Schauer Group & Norman Eckinger. Without the generous donations and sponsorships from area businesses, the agency would not be able to provide the services and programs to the more than 4,400 individuals we serve here at C&A.

The agency looks forward to hosting you at our 2021 Let Your Light Shine Event in support of all our services provided at C&A. There are multiple ways for you to participate this year:


  • Purchase a Grand Raffle tickets for $25, with the opportunity to win $2,500.
  • Purchase an $85 ticket to attend the event.
  • Participate in the on-line auction if you are unable to attend.

Tickets are available for purchase by visiting www.childandadolescent.org, scroll over the events tab, and select “LYLS Cirque De Lumiere – Partie Deux.” Remember, a little support from you could mean a world of difference to the families we serve every day.


For more information, contact Chief Advancement Officer Melissa Coultas at mcoultas@childandadolescent.org or call 330.454.7917, ext. 114

RECENT POSTS

By Mary M. Kreitz November 21, 2024
For many people changes in the seasons also bring changes in mood, energy, sleep, weight and appetite. Some researchers have found that as many as 90% of people report noticing these types of changes in themselves. However, for some people, the changes are so intense that they interfere with the person’s ability to function in their daily life.  Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a type of clinical depression that occurs with a consistent seasonal pattern. The symptoms of SAD are the same as those for other depressive disorders; what is different is that the symptoms begin every year around the same time, last for several months, and then go away for the rest of the year. The most common form of SAD is what is known as winter-pattern SAD in which depressive symptoms start in the fall or early winter and end in the spring. Another less common form is known as summer-pattern SAD and is associated with depressive symptoms that occur during the spring and summer months and improve in the fall.
By Mary M. Kreitz November 6, 2024
The 2024 election has brought a lot of fear and stress into the lives of people throughout the country. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that 77% of adults in the US are worried about the future of the nation, 73% reported feeling stressed out about the economy and 69% reported feeling stressed about the presidential election. When adults are feeling this high of a level of stress, you can bet that children and adolescents are feeling it too.
By Daniel Mucci October 1, 2024
Are you a trusted adult to your child or someone’s child in your life? What are the characteristics of a trusted adult?  Trusted adults are viewed by children or adolescents as a safe figure that listens without judgment, agenda or expectation, but with the sole purpose of supporting and encouraging positivity within a young person’s life. Today’s youth identify a trusted adult as someone who is willing to listen and engage, rather than lecture and give orders. Young adults are interested in having open conversations about mental health, social media, bullying and sharing their own experiences.
By Daniel Mucci September 9, 2024
Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health’s (C&A) The Canton Repository Let Your Light Shine presented by the Massillon Eagles FOE #190 is Sept. 21 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Canton, from 6-9 p.m. The 19th annual event supports the youth mental health programs and services C&A provides each year to our 4,100 clients.
By Mary M. Kreitz June 18, 2024
You have probably heard the scary statistics. LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk for serious mental health problems (such as anxiety and depression) than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. They’re more likely to consider suicide, more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-harm.
By Dr. Robert Willoughby June 4, 2024
Hope and hopelessness play a large role in the phenomenon of suicide and depression including that of children and adolescents (Liu, et al., 2021). On the positive side I am always reminded of the use of hope to overcome hopelessness in stories reminiscent of a hero’s journey. Stories, where in the face of insurmountable odds, one digs in deep to find themselves, their own hope, and the hope of others joining together to help whilst overcoming trials and tribulations (Campbell, 2011).
By Dan Mucci May 16, 2024
Suicidal ideation is on the rise nationwide, especially among teenagers and college-age students. Post COVID, adolescents are struggling to handle a variety of situations and have limited coping skills to help them through the challenges. One of the biggest challenges is loneliness.
By Dan Mucci April 16, 2024
The sixth annual Stark County Schools Mental Health Awareness Week is May 6-10 Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (C&A), CommQuest Services and Pathway Caring for Children will partner to bring positive mental health awareness to more than 53,000 students and 7,000 support and administrative staff in all 18 Stark County School districts.
By Chris Alpert November 16, 2023
In the film, I’m Not Racist… Am I? as introduced and explored in first of this three-part blog post series, the participants engaged in multiple workshops that address race and racism. Interpersonally, the group of students grapple with their own differences and similarities, which impact the content and emotions they share with each other. There are several moments in the film that demonstrate the clear differences in the participants’ understanding of race. In the first workshop, the students were exposed to the idea that all white people are inherently racist seeing as American society was founded on principles meant to support white people (see more on structural racism here, here, and here for further understanding). Several white students in the film became emotional during that workshop. Most students remained quiet. Following this workshop, a black student and a white student were filmed independently of each other in their own homes and discussed the workshop and what they learned with their families. The white student discussed the differences between structural racism and bigotry with her mother and struggled to identify with the principles taught in the training. The black student stated to his mother how almost everything spoken in that workshop applied to him. The student further discussed his feelings by stating how overt racism is and yet how “subliminal” it is at the same time. How can something be so in your face and yet under your feet simultaneously? I immediately reflected on the dialectic of something being so clear and yet so vague. The film continued to grapple with student differences. At the beginning of the film, one white male student discussed with his mother how he feels that all individuals, if they apply themselves wholeheartedly, have the same chance of success regardless of their skin, gender, sexuality or other demographic factors. As a white man myself, I must confess that when I was in high school, I had the same mindset. How could it be different? Especially when I was reading mythic bootstrap literature in high school classes. Sure, the harder you work the more you deserve, but that statement does not work for all Americans. I had not accounted for racial factors that inhibit the growth of others, not to mention socio-economic factors, nationalities, citizenship status, gender and age. I continued to reflect on these statements and connected them to my experience in high school in New York City. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement responding to the murder of George Floyd, multiple private progressive schools in New York, including the one I went to, suffered scrutiny from students and alumni who identify as black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC). Multiple Instagram accounts surfaced with the handle “BLACK AT [school name].” I read the posts in 2020, and again before writing this post, and remembered feeling horrified knowing these acts of racism, bigotry and microaggressions happened all around me. This was subliminal to me, yet overt to others.
More Posts
Share by: