SPRING TOWNSHIP, Pa. — This is the moment Beloved Lenora Pair was recognized Wednesday morning at the YMCA’s Breakfast of Champions, alongside several honorees making a difference in the community.
The Wilson High School student works with groups like The Real Deal 610, supporting teens through mental health challenges.
Later that day, we visited Beloved at her home in Spring Township, where she said this work started right there.
“We don’t give advice for it, but we’re just there for a helping hand… being in it myself, I understand certain mental health issues I go through,” she said.
The program was created by her mother and started inside their home before growing into something bigger.
“My mom started creating The Real Deal 610… just in our house for talking and making videos,” Beloved said. “As it started to grow, she wanted to do something with youth because she realized you can’t always relate to what they’re going through.”
Beloved says too many young people struggle in silence.
“It’s really as simple as that because mental health is so important. It’s impacted me all my life… everyone goes through it,” she said.
For her, the recognition meant more than she expected.
“It felt nice to be honored… people seeing exactly what I was doing because in my head it wasn’t nothing,” she said.
Now, she’s looking ahead, planning to attend Morgan State University with a goal of becoming a postpartum nurse.
“There’s so much mental health built into that… so many stories where women after birth go through deep phases of depression,” she said. “Mental health plays a big part in that.”