Walk honoring those lost to suicide this weekend
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Aug. 26, 2022) – Area prevention leaders are inviting anyone who’s been touched by suicide to join them for a somber stroll around Southside Community Park.
Empower Tusc is partnering with the local ADAMHS Board and the United Way of Tuscarawas County to host a Suicide Memorial Walk there Sunday at 4 pm with registration starting at 3:30. Empower Tusc Coordinator Jodi Salvo says everyone is welcome at the free event that will have Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation Chair Sandy Williams as the guest speaker and activities honoring lost loved ones.
“If you’ve been touched personally by suicide loss, we’ll have an opportunity to create some little takeaways, an opportunity to have a photo taken with a little remembrance of your loved one,” she says. “We’ll be passing out relationship beads, which is a way to signify that person you person you might have lost and what that relationship was.”
Salvo says members of the student-led suicide prevention group The Hope Squad are helping to coordinate the event where people will also be able to find information on mental health services and other resources.
“We certainly want people to get the help they need and we want the community to understand how [to] help people get the help they need or access the resources that are available.”
This will be the first suicide memorial walk for Empower Tusc since taking the lead on local prevention efforts. Salvo says they tried to hold one last November but the weather didn’t cooperate.