With the mission to help save lives, the Adams County Suicide Awareness and Prevention (ACSAP) hosted their fourth annual suicide prevention walk on September 21st at the Adams County Fairgrounds.
Adams County Suicide Awareness and Prevention (ACSAP) is a committee dedicated to raising awareness and preventing suicide, even if it is just one life. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in the United States, a person dies by suicide every 13.3 minutes, claiming more than 39,500 lives each year.
“Thank you to all who came out to the ACSAP’s 2019 4th Annual A Walk to Remember. We hope you have learned how you can help raise awareness and prevent future lives lost to suicide. Tonight, we had approximately 250-300 participants, an increase from last year,” said an event organizer. “With a large donation in the memory of Sandy Crawford, along with money from t-shirt sales and donations from businesses and community folks, ACSAP took in $4,438 tonight. ACSAP is quite humbled by the generosity of the community. We will utilize these funds to raise awareness, reaching more and more in the county, and also to help fund a LOSS team for the county, which is a trained suicide response team that would go out with the first responders to the scene of a suicide to help the family on the scene.”
According to ACSAP member Jazz Osman, the goal of the walk was to remember lost loved ones, give hope to those who suffer, and raise awareness. All proceeds will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Adams County Suicide Awareness and Prevention activities.
“Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Each year 44,965 Americans die by suicide. For everyone suicide, 25 attempt it. Just in Ohio, there were 1,707 suicides in 2016. Those numbers hurt my heart. My heart belongs to a man who became a suicide statistic. A quote that still resonates with me is, ‘It’s not the statistics that make suicide real, it’s when you love one of the numbers.’ But if I had known more about suicide before it became real for me, then maybe I could have saved him. Since I didn’t, I want to help others now, in his memory. I don’t want others to ever feel the pain of losing someone to suicide or lose their own life to suicide, as there are ways to prevent suicide. ACSAP helps in preventing suicide by raising awareness, giving information on suicide and mental health, and pointing sufferers and survivors towards help” said Osman.
Members of the Adams County Suicide Awareness and Prevention includes: Jazz Osman, Jill Cox, Jade Osman, Jessica Dillow, Jaycee Cox, Freida Dotson, Marie Ayres, Deanna Motts, Emily Grooms, Davina Cooper, and Jessica Fooce.
For more information contact Adams County Suicide Awareness and Prevention on their Facebook page.
