18th Annual Quinn Family Bash held Friday afternoon

ZANESVILLE, OH — The Annual Quinn Family Bash was held at the Welcome Center this afternoon.

Paul Quinn, the President of our six-county chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, says his father came up with the idea 18 years ago as a way to help celebrate those battling with mental illness.

“My father wanted to do something to enrich the lives of the mentally ill and so he conceived this idea of our family entertaining the community. 18 years we’ve taken one day to try to make these people battling a devastating illness forget about their problems and put a smile on their face,” explained Quinn.

Quinn says that the first year they hosted the event it was in the basement of their local church in front of 20 people. Now the event has grown to capacity of 200 people. He adds that this is almost an entirely Quinn-family ran event with all of his siblings, nieces, and nephews coming in from out of town to take part. Quinn also thanked his sound guy Mark Douglas, and drummer Steve Spires for participating.

Mental illness hit home for the Quinn family when Paul’s brother, Pat, the youngest of seven, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Their father decided that he wanted to do something for the mentally ill, and when he asked Pat what could do, Pat simply said he wanted to do something fun.

“My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and we could see the trouble he goes through and we were living it with him. He’s an inspiration, my brother is an inspiration to every person out there. He’s my hero, to get up every day, he works on his treatment every day, on his recovery, dedicated to that. That’s what it takes.” This was the first year that Pat was unable to attend the Quinn Family Bash.

Quinn says that it’s important to know that people with mental illnesses have dreams and life goals as well. He feels that treatment in our county has become to “symptom management” and he hopes that we can begin to further enrich the lives of those battling mental illness and eliminate the stigmas attached to mental illness.

The Quinn Family Bash event is free to anyone that wants to attend. Paul Quinn says that as soon as this year’s event ends, they will begin planning for 2018.