I approached the doors of the Grossi family home with two things in my mind: how rarely mental health services receive major philanthropic gifts, and how deeply personal such donations often are. The grey December sky hung low over Sudbury as Frank Grossi welcomed me with a warm handshake, his wife Melynda appearing moments later with tea.
“It’s not about recognition,” Melynda told me, settling into their living room where family photos line the walls. “It’s about making sure other families don’t go through what we did.”
The Grossis recently donated $500,000 to Sudbury’s mental health crisis response services, one of the largest private donations the program has ever received. Behind this generosity lies a story of loss that still catches in their throats when they speak of it.
Their son Michael died by suicide in 2016 at age 27 after struggling with depression for years. He had been a brilliant engineering student, a hockey enthusiast, someone whose smile could light up a room – descriptions that pour forth as his parents show me photographs.
“The system failed him,” Frank says, his hands tightening around his mug. “We called crisis lines. We sat in emergency rooms. We tried everything, but the wait times were months long, and emergency services weren’t equipped for mental health crises.”
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, one in five Canadians experiences mental illness in any given year, yet mental health receives just 7% of healthcare dollars. In Northern Ontario, these challenges are amplified by geography, limited specialized services, and workforce shortages.
Dr. Rayudu Koka, Clinical Director of Mental Health and Addictions at Health Sciences North, explains that the Grossis’ donation will help transform crisis response. “This funding allows us to create a mobile crisis team with specialized training that can respond directly in the community rather than people ending up in emergency departments where the environment itself can escalate distress.”
The donation will fund specialized training for first responders and emergency staff, create a dedicated mental health urgent care clinic, and support a peer support program staffed by individuals with lived experience.
I first met the Grossis at a community fundraiser last spring, where they spoke hesitantly about their plans. “We weren’t ready to go public then,” Melynda explains. “Grief isn’t linear. Some days it feels impossible to speak about Michael, other days I feel like I need to shout his story from the rooftops.”
The couple, who built their construction business from the ground up over three decades, had initially planned to make the donation anonymously. “It was our daughter who convinced us to attach our name to it,” Frank says. “She told us that sharing our story might help other families feel less alone.”
Their daughter Emily joins us briefly, her toddler balanced on her hip. “My brother’s struggle wasn’t unique,” she says. “But the silence around it was deafening. We didn’t know how to talk about it then. Nobody did.”
Health Sciences North Foundation reports that while cardiac care and cancer treatment regularly receive major gifts, mental health programs historically struggle to attract large donations despite serving thousands annually.
This funding gap reflects persistent stigma, explains Dr. Catherine Zahn, former CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. “When donors consider healthcare philanthropy, they often gravitate toward areas where treatment success is more visible and concrete. Mental health outcomes can be harder to measure and communicate.”
The Grossis’ gift represents a shift in this pattern. Similar donations have emerged across Canada in recent years, including the Bell Let’s Talk initiative and the Slaight Family Foundation’s $30 million mental health commitment.
Walking through downtown Sudbury later that afternoon, I pass the hospital where the new urgent care mental health clinic will open next year. Construction equipment already sits on site – some from the Grossis’ own company.
At Kuppajoe Coffee Shop, I meet Serena Coleman, who runs a local peer support group for families affected by suicide. “The Grossis’ donation isn’t just about money,” she tells me. “It’s about validation. When prominent community members acknowledge mental health openly, it chips away at the shame that keeps people from seeking help.”
The impact is already visible. Since announcing their donation last month, Health Sciences North has received fifteen additional contributions earmarked for mental health services, ranging from $500 to $50,000.
“This is creating a ripple effect,” says Maria Kohtakangas, President of the Health Sciences North Foundation. “The Grossis have essentially given permission for others to direct their philanthropy toward mental health.”
Back at their home, Frank shows me Michael’s hockey jerseys, preserved in frames. “He would have been embarrassed by all this attention,” he says with a sad smile. “But if it helps even one family get help faster than we could…”
Melynda finishes his thought: “Then it honors him in a way that matters.”
As Sudbury prepares for another long northern winter, the Grossis’ gift offers more than just funded programs – it brings the warming recognition that mental health deserves the same attention, resources, and compassion as any other healthcare challenge. And perhaps most importantly, it reminds us that behind every statistic are families whose stories deserve to be both heard and healed.
