Monday, October 14, 2024
PESHTIGO – Liliana Berman and Evelyn Hurley, seniors and co-presidents of Peshtigo High School’s National Honor Society and Rho Kappa, are organizing the second annual Together for Tomorrow mental health awareness event on Saturday, Oct. 19, from noon-5 p.m., continuing a tradition started by a former student. The event will be hosted by Peshtigo Elementary School.
For $5 pre-registered or $10 day of, attendees can participate in the group walk to raise awareness of suicide. There will also be bucket raffles, cornhole, food, music and bouncy houses. Most of the proceeds will go to the Suicide Prevention Network of Marinette and Menominee Counties, while some may be offered as prize money for attendees.
“The event was started last year by Sarah Beavers, a student who graduated in May,” Berman said. “Before Beavers graduated she wanted to ensure this event would keep happening every year, so we at Rho Kappa took over the event from her.”
The Peshtigo chapter of Rho Kappa, a social studies honor society, is working in tandem with SPN’s Vice President Gail Schick to put the event together.
“SPN does lots of stuff for community members,” Hurley said. “They do speaking engagements at local businesses, they offer scholarships and they give away care packages for families who have lost a loved on to suicide.”
Schick will be leading QPR training, which stands for Question, Persuade and Refer. According to Hurley, they are three simple steps anyone can take to help someone who is suicidal and to ultimately save a life.
“Lilli and I are both QPR certified and anyone who attends the training can also be certified,” Hurley said. “Most of the money we’re raising goes to SPN so they can go into workplaces and do QPR training for adults.”
While Hurley and Berman have led the charge, the members of Rho Kappa have all been working together to make the event happen.
“Rho Kappa has met as a group to discuss and plan the event over the summer, and we have individually gone to local businesses to talk to them and help fundraise for the event,” Berman said.
Hurley said several businesses have made donations towards the event, and some have also sent prize buckets for the raffle. With that money, Rho Kappa was able to cover a bouncy house rental that attendees are free to use.
According to Hurley, the community came together to help make this event happen.
“We have about 20-30 different buckets that can be won, from local businesses and even some families. The local Bellin Health clinic put together a bucket of Milwaukee Tools worth $500. There will also be gift certificates for raffle,” Berman said.
There will be music throughout the event, thanks to a fellow student’s family member.
“There’s a student in our grade whose aunt is a DJ, and she’s offered to DJ the event for free. Her name is DJ Jazzy Jess Thompson,” Hurley said.
Other buckets up for raffle include a Starbucks bucket donated by Peshtigo National Bank, a bucket with board games and candy for a family night, a bucket from a local gift shop with candles, towels and hair care products and a bucket from Cozzy’s Polaris.
“We’re hosting this event to help remove the stigma around suicide so people know it isn’t something we have to be hush-hush about,” Hurley said. “Everyone struggles and our community is willing to help. We want to show people there are resources and it’s not weak to ask for help.”
The stigma surrounding suicide is especially dangerous for high schoolers.
“About 11% of young adults (ages 18-25) report that they’ve had serious thoughts about suicide, and about 1–2% report a suicide attempt during the prior year. These numbers are higher among high school students — nearly 20% report serious thoughts about suicide and 9% report a suicide attempt,” according to NAMI.
“Beavers started this event because she wanted to raise awareness for mental health, especially in teens, and we want to continue spreading awareness of mental health and how to help prevent suicide,” Berman said.Berman and Hurley are also hoping to host a cornhole tournament with an entry fee of $5, where half the proceeds would go to the winner and the other half would go to SPN.
Rho Kappa will be handing out self care cards provided by SPN, as well as lists of warning signs to look out for.
There will also be a representative from the 988 suicide hotline, based out of Green Bay, at the event.
“They’re going to have a table set up so they can explain more about what 988 does,” Hurley said.
The high school’s booster club will be selling concessions at the event.
For more information, contact Lilliana Berman at (715) 938-0930 or Evelyn Hurley at (715) 923-1331.
