Event Description
Benefit for the National Alliance to End Veteran Suicide (NA2EVS.org) a registered 501(c)3.
My name is James Spivey. I am the President of National Alliance to End Veteran Suicide. I myself am a two-time suicide attempt survivor. Through this walk I wish to bring awareness to our community for Veteran lives lost each day. One Veteran commits suicide every 72 minutes, that is 20 Veteran lives lost each and every day.
My goal is that during the time of the walk we will be able to save 5 lives from suicide during the total time of this event. During the walk we will create an understanding for our community members that Veterans fought for you, for our families and our country. As a community, we do owe it to them to help them receive the resources that they need to help overcome the overwhelming feeling to end their life. For our Veterans, this walk will create gratitude, love and unity for their own fight for their life.
Join us on April 13th at Heritage Park in Olympia to raise awareness, provide resources and involvement of communities to our Veterans. There will be multiple vendor booths with a bountiful amount of resources and education to help connect our Washington communities with our struggling Veterans.
At high noon the opening ceremonies will kick off the walk around the water, approximately a 25 minute walk. This is an ideal time for you as a member of the community to walk side by side with Veterans and their families. See what they are going through, talk with them and understand them.
Open to All (Civilians That Care & Veterans Open to Share)!
Background Info:
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 20 Veterans per day die from suicide. This is one loss every 72 minutes, totaling 7,300 deaths per year, nearly 18 percent of all suicides in the United States. The biggest age spikes are around 60 years old (our Vietnam era Veterans) and 18-25 (our recent Veterans).
No one can DO EVERYTHING, BUT EVERYONE can do something!
Your something in amazing and we salute you for who you are for our Veterans and their families.
This site allows you to Run/Walk with us (for those in the area), and (for those not in the area) to do a Virtual Run, as shown in the Events list below.
Each person will be given a fundraiser web page that you send others to to help you raise awareness of Veteran Suicide and money to help us to save lives of our Service Members, Veterans and their families. Oh and you don't need to be a Veteran to make a difference!
For more details on the mission of NA2EVS or to become a Volunteer Champion, please visit NA2EVS.org
