WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - May is Mental Health Awareness Month, making it the ideal time for the Christ Counseling Ministry’s lifeline dinner. The event functions as a fundraiser to help make sure people in the community who need help receive some type of aid.

Christ Counseling Ministry has been operating for over 20 years, with a mission of providing economically-accessible faith-based counseling.

Administrative director Stephanie Sowell said that the ministry doesn’t want money to be a barrier to people receiving help.

“We have a fee assistance program that allows people who don’t have the funds to come and get counseling to actually come and receive that because most people don’t come to counseling because of money and we don’t want that to be a reason,” Sowell said.

The money the lifeline dinner raises goes to help make that goal a reality, with funds going directly to the mission of helping those in need with a wide array of mental health and counseling applications.

Guest speaker Mary Royal headlined the event. Royal, a cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2023, shared her story to help inspire others.

“Hoping just to share a word of encouragement to everyone about the hope that can come even in our hardest of journeys. And the wonderful thing that Christ Counseling Ministry does here in our city to help people find that hope and encourage them in whatever journey they may find themselves in,” Royal said.