![]() Hogan thanked Raskin for “channeling grief” to bring mental health awareness to the forefront. He gave the pen he used to enact the bill to Raskin, who was unable to attend the bill signing ceremony. Hogan said that he was “proud to sign” the legislation honoring the congressman’s son into law as the first bill of the year. “Governor Hogan, I’m moved and honored that this was the first bill that was signed this year, and I’m moved to think that we have a state that has worked together across party lines … to focus on emotional and mental health,” Raskin said. (R) for his gesture in making the bill honoring his son’s legacy the first to be signed into law after the legislature adjourned. Raskin, standing in front of the State House where he used to serve as a Montgomery County senator, thanked Gov. Quinton Askew, president and CEO of 211 Maryland, said that anyone interested in the program for themselves or their loved ones can sign up early by texting “Health check” to 211631. ![]() The legislation will also connect callers with crisis services if needed. The Thomas Bloom Raskin Act, named after Raskin’s son who died by suicide on New Year’s Eve, will establish voluntary mental health check-ins from trained and accredited mental health professionals through the state’s 211 system. “And so, my family is just really happy that Tommy has been honored in this way.” “We live in a state that cares about each and every young person out there and we don’t want to lose anybody else,” Raskin said. Lawmakers crossed the aisle and shared emotional embraces Monday morning, as they commemorated the enactment of a mental health services expansion bill named in memory of U.S. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s), among other lawmakers. Raskin was joined by (L-R) Quinton Askew, president and CEO of 211 Maryland, Del. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks at a Monday morning ceremony commemorating the enactment of a mental health bill named in honor of his late son. Ron Kampeas writes for the JTA global Jewish news source.U.S. ![]() ![]() Tommy Raskin graduated from Amherst College and was a student at Harvard Law School when he died. The post noted Tommy Raskin’s many interests and volunteer gigs, including teaching Sunday school at Temple Emanuel in Chevy Chase, a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., and at J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group. “He ordered and devoured books on the Civil War and Maryland’s history in it, World War II and resistance to Nazism, Jewish history, libertarianism, moral philosophy, the history of the Middle East conflict, peace movements, anything by Gar Alperovitz on the decision to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and anything by Peter Singer on animal rights.” “Tommy grew up as a strikingly beautiful curly-haired madcap boy beaming with laughter and charm, making mischief, kicking the soccer ball in the goal, acting out scenes from To Kill A Mockingbird with his little sister in his father’s constitutional law class, teaching other children the names of all the Justices on the Supreme Court, hugging strangers on the street, teaching our dogs foreign languages, running up and down the aisle on airplanes giving people high fives, playing jazz piano like a blues great from Bourbon Street, and at 12 writing a detailed brief to his mother explaining why he should not have to do a Bar Mitzvah and citing Due Process liberty interests (appeal rejected),” the post said. “He began to be tortured later in his 20s by a blindingly painful and merciless ‘disease called depression,’ as Tabitha put it,” the family said. The Raskins posted a memorial to Tommy, who took his life at 25, on Medium. The money will be directed twice a year to charities favored by Tommy Raskin, including Oxfam, Give Directly, the Helen Keller Institute and Animal Outlook. The Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals launched this week with initial funding of $50,000. Jamie Raskin has established a fund to honor the memory of Tommy Raskin, the Maryland Jewish Democrat’s son, who died on Dec.
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