In support of a friend, tonight I am going to venture into a subject that I typically don’t address on the blog – eating disorders.

“In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more are struggling with binge eating disorders. In spite of the unprecedented growth of eating disorders in the past two decades, eating disorders research continues to be under-funded, insurance coverage for treatment is inadequate, and societal pressures to be thin remain rampant.” – National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA)

As an active and health-minded female who has certainly encountered my fair share of body image struggles and also supported friends through similar issues, I feel that this is a post that I have to write.

My friend Lynn Dreyer started a charity called Melissa’s Voice in 2011 to honor her sister who committed suicide after a lifelong battle with an eating disorder. The mission of Melissa’s Voice is to promote eating disorder awareness, provide educational resources and programs, support local eating disorder professionals and host fund raising events in the community.

Lynn is doing amazing things in the Charlotte community. She hosted the first NEDA walk in Charlotte in 2011 and has created an event called Sip & Savour to raise funds to support her HOPE Scholarship. This is a scholarship program that she created to provide financial assistance for those who cannot afford eating disorder treatment.

Thanks to the money raised through the first Sip & Savour event in 2011, Melissa’s Voice was able to provide assistance to Katie Brumley to receive treatment for her eating disorder. This year’s event will celebrate Katie and the gains she’s made in her journey to recovery as well as raise money to continue to offer the scholarship to those in need. I think it’s incredible that the focus is on directly helping individuals seek recovery and healing.

Sip & Savour will be held on Saturday, September 22 in Charlotte. I so wish I could attend the event but I am going to be out of town on a girl’s weekend in Asheville so I wanted to share the event with you guys in hopes that you will support Lynn and Melissa’s Voice. Check out the website for more details. It’s a gallery crawl featuring food from great restaurants, art and wine tastings.

I hope to partner with Melissa’s Voice in the future on events to help bring awareness to eating disorders and support women and men in our community who are struggling with eating disorders.