HELENA — Battle Of The Gains Gains is a non-profit working to help people improve their mental health. Traveling in an RV is a couple visiting all of our nation’s 50 state capitals, but they’re not just doing this for fun, they’re motivated by a cause.
“A lot of people are experiencing anxiety and depression, especially right now. So we are interviewing people across the country asking them about the battles they went through in 2020 and advice they have for people in 2021," said Will Ellermets (who goes by the name Billy Gains), the founder of Battle Of The Gains.
The mission: "Battle of the Gains (GAINS for short) is a healthy living movement inspiring people through events, online resources and ambassadorship program to live their best life by overcoming battles and making gains physically, mentally, spiritually, financially and with relationships. The ultimate mission for Battle of the Gains is to stop the rising rates of depression, anxiety, suicide and homicide. We believe that people everywhere should be able to attain their life goals, despite obstacles."
Billy decided to take their message on a nationwide tour, collecting pandemic experiences and advice from people across the country.
"We talked to business owners. We stopped by colleges and talked to college students and then just did interviews on the street,” says Billy. “We try to go to all the different main attractions and we are just interviewing all different types of people and hearing their stories and there's definitely a lot of stories. We've interviewed hundreds of people across the country and we've gotten thousands of videos. So it's been a really cool experience."
As of June 4th, Billy has visited 42 state capitals, capturing the whole journey on video and social media, but the real work for Battle Of The Gains begins after the trip.
“That's when we're going to be reaching out to different businesses that want to be a part of future events, the chapters we want to start up in each state. So it's going to take a lot of work but I'm really excited for it. I feel like it's what I was meant to do and it's a really exciting thing to be living out my dream," says Billy.
Battle Of The Gains has plans to turn all of those interviews and advice from across the country into a book.
