By Terra Avilla
This week, I want to talk about something that’s has meant a lot to me over the years and always will, the annual Out of Darkness suicide prevention walk here in Lassen County.
I was there when it all started, thinking back to those first meetings with Niki Jarrel and Jim Dandois. None of us really knew what to expect, but we all understood what was at stake and I think that’s why we agreed to help start it.
We know… so many in our county struggle with mental health issues, and honestly, the statistics here are hard to look at sometimes. We are a county that struggles with Suicide.
What’s really stuck with me is how much the event grew. For a few years after that first one, I stayed involved, helping to organize and absolutely loved seeing how many more agencies and organizations came to the table, watching the new local leadership get involved… and it was a thriving community event.
But that’s also because it hit home that just about everyone in Lassen County has been touched by this issue in some way. No one is immune. Not families, not teachers, not first responders and unfortunately not our children. It really became something bigger than any one group.
Even when I stepped away from the planning committee, Frankie and I always made a point to show up. The walk became a regular date on our family calendar, for us, our girls, and last year, we brought the baseball team. At the event, we saw NUMEROUS other college athletic teams well represented.
The turnout, the people, the stories – every year, it just proved again how important this is to all of us.
I’m sure you’ve seen the recent decision by the Lassen County Office of Education to step back from the national American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It’s important to say that the Lassen County Office of Education IS NOT to blame.
You see the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention which helps orchestrate the event (from out of the area) increased their major sponsor contribution request to $7,500.
For a rural community like ours, that’s a heavy lift, especially when we need to be certain that the money raised makes its way back to help local families. Why the AFSP decided to do this might be unclear to me, but what IS clear, is that their decision is going to have a ripple effect on the other groups like LCOE.
$7,500 is a large amount to require for a sponsorship. It’s going to impact a lot of the partners and organizations who’ve relied on this event to raise awareness, build community, and support mental health resources locally.
However. I don’t see this as the end, not at all. If anything, it’s just a turning point.
We have the people, the passion, and the need to bring this walk back in a way that truly benefits Lassen County. What that looks like, I don’t quite know. But what I do know is with local people like Megan Gray at the helm, we will figure it out, because this cause isn’t going away, and neither is it the heart of this community.
If you or anyone you know is struggling, please remember you’re not alone. The Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988 is there.
It might not be this year, but we’ll walk together again, because this matters. It always will.
