Out of the Darkness Walks for suicide research and prevention
 

The Out of the Darkness Walk is a dusk to dawn, 16-18 mile walk to bring the issue of suicide into the light. All proceeds benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the leading non-profit organization committed to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy, as well as reaching out to people contemplating or impacted by suicide.

I walk for my brother, who took his own life at 33 back in 1996. I walk for my parents who were devastated by this event, and who are now counseling others who experience what they went through nearly 18 years ago. I walk for friends and relatives of friends and co-workers who have taken their lives.

Because Steven's suicide had a great impact on me, on June 14-15, I will be walking the streets of Seattle to raise funds. I will be doing it again on June 28-29 through the streets of Philadelphia. A $1000 minimum is required for each walk, though I've set my goal above that.

I humbly ask for your consideration in supporting my efforts. Donations can be made online for the event in Seattle and/or the walk in Philadelphia. If one of the pages is lagging the other, please help the lesser one along.

In 2010, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 38,364 suicides were recorded in the United States--one every 13 minutes and 42 seconds. One surprising statistic I discovered was that 20% of suicides are Veterans of the armed forces.

I thank you for your consideration.

I commend your effort ... and I will make a donation.

Your family's story is sad. But very real. And in our society, many real issues still are stigmatized unfairly. Good job in making the best of a horrible event in your life!

I just donated. Friends have gone thru the unspeakable pain of a sibling committing suicide. Very recently, we've lost two young men in our lives. While neither committed suicide, we know very personally the pain for us and the pain for their parents. Well done on making something good of something so sad.

Thank you so much to the trio of FT donations I've received so far. I'm still a bit off from the minimum I need to participate. I need just over $600 more for Philadelphia and just a bit over $200 for Seattle. Of course, my goals are higher than that, but getting to the minimum of $1000 is most important.

Thanks!