Welcome!
In loving memory of Barry James Bohlander.


    Welcome to the website for the Shed-A-Light Foundation.

    My son, Barry Bohlander, was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2000 and passed away from the disease in 2005, at the
    age of 25.

    In those five years, as a caregiver, I was exposed to the challenges and difficulties of our Mental Health System in
    America. At times it worked well, but most times it was difficult.  In those five years I was also exposed to others
    suffering from Schizophrenia, their families, and organizations providing real help and comfort to not only the
    individual, but also the family. Their support was invaluable to me, and my son.

    I also have had the opportunity to talk to so many people about Schizophrenia - and there are very few who have not
    been touched in some form or fashion by this terrible disease. Whether it is a family member, a relative, a friend, the
    child of a friend……I have heard so many stories of how this disease had impacted their lives, and the lives of others.

    Schizophrenia is a mental and physical illness that still today has a socially negative stigma, so it is not widely spoken
    about in private or in public. The aim of the Shed-A-Light Foundation is to begin to lift the negative veil from
    Schizophrenia and provide real help to individuals, families, and organizations related to this disease. This help will be
    directed to specific needs - in living, in coping, in research, in support programs - and will not be given to nationwide
    organizations’ general operating funds. My goal is to use this Fund in a way that we are able to see the positive impact
    of the support provided.

    I ask you to read the following pages and consider a donation to Shed-A-Light so that one case by one case, real help
    can be provided. Shed-A-Light Foundation is a 501C3 under the Santa Fe Community Foundation, so that your giving
    is tax deductible.

    To end, my son Barry, shortly before his death, wrote a poem about his situation. The last line was  “ I Am Still Me."  
    It was a message, I believe, that below the surface of the psychotic behavior and its’ manifestations, which he could
    not control, was my son Barry, in all his glorious personality, that was visible and real before his illness. He was not
    gone, and he was trying to fight the illness. His message was “do not forget me - who I am was and am - and help me.”

    Thank you very much, and I hope you join me in helping those afflicted with Schizophrenia who truly are in need. We
    will not forget you.

    Jim Bohlander
“ Charity Sees the Need, Not the Cause “

German Proverb