DAVENPORT, IOWA (September 3, 2024) — For the second year in a row, NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley has a generous partner in supporting its biggest fundraiser of the year. NAMIWalks is the Quad Cities’ largest mental-health advocacy and awareness event, and it’s also NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley’s biggest source of funds for its free, nationally-developed education and support groups for those living with mental health conditions, and their families and friends.
Malik and K Khaliq and family, of Milan, Illinois, stepped up this year, as well as last year, to be the Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 NAMIWalks Greater Mississippi Valley event on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Bend XPO amphitheater and park, East Moline, Ill.
“We get tremendous support from the Quad-City business community, as well as individuals, who regularly sponsor NAMIWalks each year,” said NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley Development Director Lori Leipold. “But it’s rare for a family to support NAMIWalks at the level of Presenting Sponsor — especially for two years running. We are very grateful to the Khaliq family for their generous support of our mission. NAMIWalks is our largest annual fundraiser and provides significant community investment for our education and support programs. Meeting our fundraising goal each year is vital to delivering programs to more people in need throughout our eight-county service area.”
The Khaliq family is sponsoring NAMIWalks in a major way for a number of reasons, including their strong belief that families living with mental health conditions need to be supported with free, high-quality education and support group programs on the local level, delivered by people with lived mental-health experience.
Additionally, they want to support NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley’s mission in honor and memory of their son, Matthew. “Matthew died on September 29, 2008, from accidental drowning,” K said. “He was just 21 years old, and had been diagnosed with several mental-health conditions. I shortened my name from Karen to K when he died, because I felt a part of me had died with him. We were together on our own before I met and married my husband, Malik, in 2000. When Matthew died in 2008, my world stopped and the rest of the world kept going. NAMI programs helped us and helped me through my grief. I had a new start with Malik and our young children, but I needed help to begin again. There is still such a stigma with mental illness and people are often isolated — NAMI helped me realize I wasn’t alone.”
The entire Khaliq family gets behind their NAMIWalks sponsorship, with Malik and their daughter joining in public relations appearances to promote the walk, and son, Sameer, organizing a walk team of friends and family. It’s a cause they believe in and they are more than willing to speak out in support of NAMI’s mental health mission.
“Supporting NAMI is important to us, because NAMI’s programs are a key component of the solution to the mental health crisis in our country,” added Malik Khaliq. “NAMI programs provide essential education and support tools to help families cope, and they help families connect with others in similar situations so they realize they’re not alone and there is hope.”
NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley is a 45-year affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental-health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley serves residents of Scott, Clinton, Muscatine, Jackson, and Cedar counties in eastern Iowa and Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer counties in western Illinois. More information can be found at namigmv.org. NAMIWalks sign-up and online walk donations can be made at namiwalks.org/greatermississippivalley.
