Last week, we marked World Mental Health Day, which we use at Born This Way Foundation as a way to reflect on the work we need to do to raise mental health awareness, share accessible resources, and encourage healthy, honest conversations that reduce stigma and build community.

In my personal reflection, I feel immense gratitude for you as a member of our Born This Way Foundation community. Together, with our partners at Cotton On Foundation, we asked you to help us build a kinder, braver world by earning your Be There Certificate to learn how to support your own and others’ mental health and nominating organizations to receive a Kindness in Community Fund grant to further their mental health work.

You took the invitation to get involved and defied all expectations we set for this campaign. Thousands of you signed up to earn your Be There Certificate, and we’ve now officially crossed over 30,000 certificates earned globally as of our launch just one year ago! We received nearly 2,000 nominations for our Kindness in Community Fund grant for local organizations around the world supporting youth mental health. It has always been a shared dream for my daughter and me that this fund and our work make an impact globally, and you made that happen. We can’t wait to share the recipient organizations with you early next year!

Going beyond the numbers, you’ve also shared your stories with us for what this campaign has meant to you personally. Stories like Desiree, who used her Be There Certificate training and a QR code to support a parent wanting to be there for their child having a difficult time at school.

Because of Desiree, the thousands of people who have shown up and taken action, and you, a member of our Born This Way Foundation community, I’m so proud to share that Born This Way Foundation and Cotton On Foundation, with our friends at Pinterest, are extending this campaign through World Kindness Day, November 13. That is more time for us to find and share powerful stories of kindness, encourage our communities to earn their Be There Certificates, and nominate organizations to receive a Kindness in Community Fund grant.

With all we’ve accomplished together, I also want to remind you of something you know – the kinder, braver world we envision is possible when we work together and our collective efforts extend beyond World Mental Health Day. So I encourage you to continue inviting people to join you in earning a Be There Certificate and to continue nominating organizations worldwide to receive a Kindness in Community Fund grant until nominations close on October 17 at 12 pm PT.

I am in awe of the work we’ve done together, and I hope you’ll take time to feel proud of yourself and our global kind community today and beyond.