Candace Bushnell Grand Marshal For 'Race Of Hope' To Fight Depression

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — With mental health concerns escalating during the pandemic, the need for services is vital. To that end, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation's "Week of Hope" returns, launching Wednesday in the Hamptons.

The kick-off event takes place Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Southampton Village at AKRIS, located at 50 Jobs Lane.

To help raise awareness, more than 50 local businesses including Douglas Elliman, J. McLaughlin and Michael Kors will display two-foot-wide environmentally safe and reusable bright yellow statement balloons at their front doors, "symbolizing hope and their unwavering commitment to raising mental health and depression awareness," according to organizers.

The Week of Hope was created by Southampton resident Audrey Gruss’ Hope for Depression Research Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to fighting depression through research and education.

The launch will be hosted by Gruss and Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren.

“Our Southampton community has always had its finger on the pulse of important issues facing our world,” said Warren. “Mental health is at the top of our national cultural conversation, and we are proud to partner with Hope for Depression Research Foundation to further awareness.”

The Week of Hope was born in 2018 to herald HDRF’s signature summer event, the "Race of Hope 5K to Defeat Depression."

The campaign was quickly embraced by the shops throughout the Village, but has been on pandemic pause since 2020.

This year's return of the event takes place from Wednesday through Saturday, August 6, with the Race of Hope slated for Sunday, August 7 around Lake Agawam.

Gruss is a co-grand marshal of the Race with HDRF board member and East Hampton resident Arthur Dunnam — as well as celebrity grand marshal Candace Bushnell, bestselling author and journalist and creator of "Sex in the City."

“We are thrilled and gratified to see Southampton Village once again embrace the Week of Hope as we emerge from the pandemic," Gruss said. "Mental health awareness has become more important than ever, and HDRF has a long track record of leadership in this arena.”

Gruss pointed out recent studies showing that two in five American adults report symptoms of anxiety and depression since the pandemic. Studies also show that more than 40 percent of teenagers "struggle with constant sadness and hopelessness, and these staggering statistics seem to only be going up," she said.

The 7th Annual Race of Hope takes place on Sunday, August 7, beginning at 8:30 a.m., and is expected to bring out more than 500 participants — with 100 percent of proceeds going to fund depression research.

To sign up, click here.

To date, the Week of Hope, in conjunction with the Race of Hope, has helped to raise more than $1 million for advanced depression research, organizers said.

Gruss founded HDRF in April, 2006 in memory of her mother Hope, who struggled with clinical depression, she said. Today, HDRF is the leading nonprofit organization focused solely on depression research and public education, organizers said.

"The World Health Organization has declared depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, but despite its prevalence, depression is still misunderstood, underfunded and under-researched. The mission of the HDRF is to fund innovative neuroscience research into the origins, medical diagnosis, new treatments, and prevention of depression and its related mood disorders - bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and suicide," organizers said.

HDRF has provided more than $40 million through more than 125 grants for depression research that "promises to transform the way depression is viewed, diagnosed, treated and prevented," organizers said.

According to statistics provided by HDRF:

• In the United States, depression affects over 20-million adults each year — or one in 10 adults.

• Depression is the leading cause of suicide. In the United States, one person dies by suicide every 11 minutes — more than 47,000 people per year.

• Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

• Depression costs society $210 billion annually — 60 percent of which represents reduced efficiency at work and costs related to suicide.

In addition, HDRF said:

• More than 30 percent of those diagnosed with depression do not respond to existing treatments.

• In 35 years since the introduction of Prozac and other SSRI anti-depressants, there has been almost no change in the treatment of depression, just "tinkering with existing approaches," HDRF said.

• "Although depression is one of the most serious and prevalent conditions in the United States, it is ranked 77th out of 250 in the amount of federal funding it receives," HDRF said.

• Most of the major pharmaceutical companies have discontinued brain research.

HDRF features a Depression Task Force seeking new treatments. "They share results in real-time at a centralized data bank. This allows them to leverage data to accelerate research. This is unheard of in the entire scientific research field which is normally competitive and not collaborative," HDRF said.