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Walk draws attention to suicide prevention |
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SPRINGFIELD -- On Sept. 12, at the Jewish Community Center the local chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will host their ninth annual Out of the Darkness Community Walk.
This signature fundraising event is expected to raise $50,000 and draw hundreds of participants from across Western Massachusetts to raise money for suicide prevention, research and education.
Locally, it is headed by Lisa Bullen of Hamden who lost her brother. She has been instrumental in the success of this walk and has served in many capacities.
AFSP is the only national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research and education, and to reaching out to people with mood disorders and those affected by suicide. Money raised will be used locally for prevention, survivor initiatives and educational programs.
Since the beginning of these community walks, participants and sponsors have raised nearly $9 million for research and education.
"Suicide and mental illness take and enormous toll on families, friends and neighbors leaving communities across the nation devastated by this national health problem," Robert Gebbia executive director for AFSP, said.
This fall, the Out of the Darkness Community Walk will unite thousands of people with common goals of preventing suicide and ending the stigma that surrounds depression and other mental illness.
Close to one million people make a suicide attempt each year and every 16 minutes someone dies by suicide in the United States. Five hundred and forty-seven people died from suicide last year in Massachusetts. That is more than died by homicide and motor vehicles combined. More than 34 million people suffer from depression or other mood disorders.
It is estimated that each year, nearly one million Americans make a suicide attempt, more than 34,000 die by suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults and the second leading cause of death for college students.
Additionally, older Americans over the age of 65 account for 16 percent of all suicide deaths.
Please join AFSP on Sept. 12. Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. and the walk begins at 10 a.m.
Call Bullen at 566-5046 for details.
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