By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Drawing people together to share memories of lost loved ones, the 10th annual Into the Light Walk for Suicide Prevention was held at Aumiller Park in Bucyrus Saturday.
Spurred by the loss of her son, Ginger Gamble began a support group called Survivors of Suicide for others who had lost loved ones to suicide. Not long afterwards Gamble, with the help of Jodi Demo-Hodgins, who lost her sister to suicide, coordinated the walk.
Demo-Hodgins recalled the first event.
“Together we put together our very first walk, we didn’t do it at the pavilion, we did it at a shelter down there, and I kept telling her if we have 10 people we will be happy, and we had 100 the first year,” Demo-Hodgins said. “We were both spurred by loss and Ginger wanted people to knew from an educational standpoint that there are other alternatives. We know the majority of people that struggle with suicide have depression, and we know that depression is treatable.”
“We use the funds from the walk to support three different things, to help support the activities for the Survivors of Suicide support group, and to do screenings in the schools where we bring in clinicians where they do assessments and screenings. We also use funds for general awareness activities,” Demo-Hodgins continued.
The walk took the group from the pavilion on a 2.3 mile walk around Aumiller Park. Participants wore different colored beads which represented a family member or friend who had succumbed to suicide. When the walk was finished participants hung the beads in a tree outside of the pavilion in remembrance.
Shelby McCleese, who was participating in the walk, explained.
“One of my good friends passed away last year from suicide, his participated in the event last year and I didn’t know about it so this year I made sure I wanted to get here and support it.”
Pam Rayle, who helped with the event, said, “It’s a good place for us to heal to know there are others out there to talk about it.”