CARLYLE - Jennifer Sedor has been the mayor of Carlyle for four and a half years. Along with all the responsibilities that title carries, she is often called upon to do things that a typical community resident might never be invited to do.
One of those things came in late April. Her daughter Finn, who is a Grade 12 student at Gordon F. Kells High School, challenged Sedor to take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge 2025.
“You are the mayor, after all," the younger Sedor said.
The mayor had 24 hours to accept or reject the challenge. She accepted.
You might remember the Ice Bucket Challenge of a few years ago that was intended to raise awareness and money for ALS – commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Professional athletes, Hollywood stars, people who were in the public eye and many who weren’t took up the challenge and much of the mystery surrounding ALS disappeared.
This year, students of the University of South Carolina’s MIND Club (Mental Illness Needs Discussion) felt that something needed to be done to bring better awareness to mental illness. Remembering the effectiveness of the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS, they decided to resurrect the ice bucket idea. The ‘ice’ component led to a slogan – freeze the stigma around mental health.
Every student was encouraged to take the challenge themselves and then challenge three others to take it up as well. From that humble beginning, the Ice Bucket Challenge 2025 has spread quickly, even recently touching the southeast corner of the province.
On a cold, rainy, wet April 27 afternoon, there Sedor stood, conveniently just a few feet from a well-heated hot tub. The sight of that helped to soften the blow as her son Tayo dumped five gallons of ice water, mingled with cubes of ice, over her head and body. Quickly, she plunged into the hot tub; the challenge had been accepted and completed.
Part of accepting the challenge is to call for three others to go through the same thing, perhaps without the hot tub. Sedor has challenged three community leaders and two accepted. Jade Moore of King’s Department Store had her ordeal outside of her store April 28 and Naomi Twietmeyer, the Carlyle librarian, took the plunge in White Bear Lake.
As well, three others who were not challenged did it anyway – Sedor's seven-year-old daughter June, her eight-year-old niece Cora and her friend over at the Carlyle Observer, Dolores Young, who was slated to take the challenge in front of the office May 1. Sedor also suggested, without challenging, that the writer of this article consider doing it as well.
So, the word about mental health is continuing to be heard as people accept the challenge of becoming a link in the Ice Bucket Challenge chain. As well, awareness is being directed to Envision Counselling and Support Services. They have four locations in the southeast – Carlyle, Oxbow, Estevan and Weyburn – that offer free resources and counselling to those who are affected by mental health.
