About Us

Our Executive Director, Douglas Kerr, is well qualified for his position. He received his Bachelors degree in Business Administration and Theology, and a Masters Degree in Human Resources Management.  He founded the Community Chest Request Foundation at a time of great personal challenges. His son was diagnosed with SPMI (Severe Persistent Mental Illness), and tried to commit suicide twice. Unfortunately, on December 11, 2017, his son passed away as a result of his illness. To bring greater community awareness of the challenges faced by families dealing with SPMI Illness, he purchased a t-shirt and wrote “What is SPMI? Ask Me”.” The back of the T-shirt listed the letters of the acronym and included the full words:

• S: Severe
• P:Persistent
• M: Mental
• I: Illness

He wore the shirt everywhere he went for several weeks; grocery shopping, the car wash, bowling alley, church, Six Flags of New England, and even to a Women’s Health Expo in Connecticut. He was heartened by the number of people that took him up on the offer to ask “What is SPMI?” But he was more delighted by those who said, “I know what that is,” “My grandmother has that,” “My nephew has that.” There was even a gentleman in the grocery store who said “My daughter has SPMI and I have to fly her several states away to get her treatment.” In addition to this, Douglas Kerr testified before the Appropriations Committee of the Connecticut Legislative Office to keep funding available to families and organizations that provide services to the mentally ill.

During this time Douglas Kerr also became unemployed. However, he was using a portion of the unemployment check to fund our activities at the Community Chest Request Foundation. When asked by one of the individuals he assisted, “If you are unemployed, why are you using the money you obviously need to help us?” His response was that he had found a cause that he was passionate about; that was greater than his own needs. Shortly thereafter, he received a fulltime position working for a human services company. He continued to fund the Community Chest Request Foundation with his own funding. Since then he has also continued to raise awareness for SPMI and basic human needs by walking 18.2 miles from Bloomfield Connecticut to Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts.