Two days after Miami Lakes Mayor Josh Dieguez spent an afternoon as the target in a dunk tank, his ears were still waterlogged.
Mental Health Task Force Vice Chair Rosa Barroso estimated the elected official fell 50 times into the water.
“It was all for a good cause,” Dieguez said.
That cause was the First Alarm Foundation, which supports the mental health of first responders and their families. It is based in Miami Lakes and was the beneficiary of the Mental Health Awareness Fall Festival, presented by the Miami Lakes Mental Health Task Force on Oct. 18 at Veterans Park.
White-topped marquees lined the park where residents could buy pumpkins and enjoy other activities of the season; get information and learn about community resources for healthy minds.
Sponsors included Larkin Community Hospital; My Psychiatrist; Thriving Mind South Florida; Baptist Health and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia.
In the second photo: Members of the Mental Health Task Force, from left: Maria Paz, secretary; Chair Lindsay Wallick; Carolyn Acosta, Founder, First Alarm Foundation; Carolyn’s son Alexander Acosta, Jr. and her brother Marcos Molina; Vice Chair Rosa Barroso; Susan Holtzman, chief executive officer and president, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Miami-Dade County and Committee Member Hector Suco. Courtesy photo.