Bowling Fundraiser Raises Awareness, Continues Oswego Teen's Legacy

OSWEGO, IL — In the months after Mark Chapas, Jr. died unexpectedly at the age of 18 in the fall of 2021, his family members did their best to carry on his memory as best they could while also trying to find ways to prevent other local families from experiencing the pain they felt.

The 18-year-old Oswego East High School senior died in late October and was remembered as a carrying protector of the underdog who would do anything for his friends and family. Now, nearly a year after his aunt, Ashley Gunderson, and his mother, Angie Chapas, created a foundation in August 2022 to help create awareness and support for teens struggling with mental health issues, the efforts to allow Mark's legacy to live on continue.

Since establishing the 71 Reasons and More Foundation, Gunderson and Chapas have worked tirelessly to get more educational information into local schools regarding mental health awareness. They have provided some local students with scholarships while also supporting families who may be dealing with mental health struggles or who have coped with suicide. But now, they are hoping to raise funds to open a local safe house for teens who need assistance and support in dealing with depression or anxiety to help create an easier pathway for them to navigate.

The foundation will host a bowling fundraiser on July 28 that Gunderson and Chapas hope will move their not-for-profit organization closer to opening that safe house. The fundraiser will be held from 6-9 p.m. on July 28 at Parkside Lanes in Aurora, where organizers of the event hope to further the foundation’s mission of trying to provide help to those who need it most.

Opening a safe space for Kendall County teens remains the big-picture goal, but in the meantime, Chapas says she and others want to make changes where they can, understanding first-hand the pain that can come from mental health struggles that go unaddressed. In doing so, helping raise awareness of mental health struggles helps to provide another coping mechanism for friends and family members who still grieve Mark Chapas, Jr’s unexpected passing almost two years ago.

“Mark was a kid that I would have never expected this from,” Angie Chapas told Patch this week. “He was in sports, he was doing everything and (his death) has changed our world and now, we deal with mental health issues because of it. But this just doesn’t end with Mark.”

Chapas says while local schools like Oswego East provide some mental health awareness, it isn’t enough. Chapas works as a nurse, which has given her an even bigger up-close view of teens who struggle with mental health issues, which has only increased her awareness of the need for more to be done for these teens.

Chapas and Gunderson said that too many times, the stigma surrounding mental health issues causes teens to not seek the help they need. Gunderson said that teens struggle with showing their feelings or wanting to talk about the issues they are dealing with, which only enhances the issue and makes it more difficult to address with those who may be in the middle of living with feelings of depression or anxiety.

That only adds to the need for a safe space where teens struggling with these issues can find the professional help that they need and help squash the stigma that surrounds mental illness and mental health issues that teens experience.

“We want to be able to normalize communicating about mental health and knowing it’s OK not to be OK and it’s OK to talk about it and share about it if you need help,” Gunderson told Patch.

Chapas said from people she has spoken with, teens dealing with mental health struggles need a place to go to talk through their issues. Because many of them won’t talk to their parents or a doctor — or even close friends — about what they are experiencing, the need for a safe space becomes even greater. While such places exist in neighboring counties and cities, tragedies like the one involving Mark Chapas, Jr., have only increased the need for a facility in the Oswego area.

A safe house, Gunderson said, will provide teens with a judgment-free zone where they can express themselves while also finding the professional help that is needed to help them address their struggles.

The Chapas family is teaming up with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Operation Snowball, and local businesses along with officials from DeKalb, Kane, and Kendall counties to promote mental health awareness. But the two founders of the non-profit organization hope that fundraisers like the upcoming bowling event and other activities can help to move them closer to opening up a place where local teens can go for help.

But even in neighboring counties where more mental health services are available, staffing levels are low, which only adds to the issue of providing teens with much-needed help.

“We are trying to push the big boulder uphill so we can fight this,” Chapas said.

Gunderson said that the foundation’s efforts would make Mark Chapas, Jr., proud given his desire to help and support others around him. Gunderson said that at Mark’s wake in 2021, teens came up to family members and said because of Mark’s efforts to make others smile and feel better about themselves, they didn’t try to harm themselves while they were going through their own mental health struggles.

Now, almost two years later, the foundation has a mission of carrying on Mark’s legacy.

“It’s hard to work though, but it’s meaningful at the same time,” Angie Chapas told Patch. “If I can save one child, it’s worth it. If I can have somebody not going through the pain that my family has gone through, it’s worth it.”