Resort Report: Home-grown HDRF hosts bright yellow, hope-filled weekend in Southampton

Southampton Village was the yellowest, most hopeful place on the planet as the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF) hosted its annual race weekend.

The series of events to raise mental health awareness and to kick off its eighth annualRace of Hope 5K to Defeat Depression took place Aug.4-6.

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The weekend began on Friday with the Hope Summer Seminar at the Southampton Arts Center, where psychiatrist Samantha Boardman and psychologist Aliza Pressman discussed "How to Talk to Friends and Family About Mental Health."

Boardman is the author of the blog Positive Prescription and the book "Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength." Pressman is the co-founder of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center, and an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Icahn School of Medicine.

Audrey Gruss, HDRF founder and chairwoman, moderated the discussion.

The seminar was followed by a private luncheon at Tutto Il Giorno for the race committee members.

The luncheon took place in the restaurant's lush — and we mean that in the best possible connotation — garden and began with appetizers of Sardinian flatbread, an Italian charcuterie assortment, spicy tuna tartare, burrata, and an arugula salad with bell peppers, artichokes and ricotta, followed by an entrée choice of chicken Milanese, seared salmon, spaghetti with scarpariello sauce, or a grilled mozzarella and sun-dried tomato flatbread.

A "Shop for Hope" reception at the Veronica Beard boutique followed, where champagne and pastrieswere available to shoppers.

What? Wait ...

So you're telling us these women are possessed of such self-confidence that, after chowing down on Sardinian flatbread and spaghetti, they went to a store and tried on clothes? OK, we give up.

The weekend culminated on Sunday with the annual Race of Hope 5K to Defeat Depression, which was attended by more than 500 adults, children and pets.

Gruss and board member Arthur Dunnam, were grand marshals of the race, which for the first time included teen grand marshals in the person of Grier Henchy, the 17-year-old daughter of Brooke Shields; and Hayden Lucas, a high school senior and leader of the newly-formed HDRF Teen Task Force.

The race raised nearly $400,000.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Resort Report: Mental-health charity hosts race weekend in Southampton