GRASSROOTS BEGINNINGS

The Gathering Place started out grassroots and has grown in to the amazing organization it is today. The Gathering Place was founded in 1996 with a grant from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Wisconsin, in the amount of $15,000. The purpose of the grant was to open non-profit drop-in centers in Wisconsin for adults with lived experience. Four mental health consumers in Green Bay gathered together to visualize how this would happen. A structure was soon in place, starting with a Board of Directors and then volunteers who made up the management team. Kim came up with the name The Gathering Place and it was perfect. We opened our doors in May of 1996 and people started coming!