OUT OF THE DARKNESS

Last Sunday, Oct. 28, the Tech Health Promotion Department and students from Active Minds at Tech attended this year's American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Out of the Darkness Community Walk in Piedmont Park.

Active Minds, an organization new to Tech, aims at helping students cope with mental health issues or mental illness and encouraging students to seek help as soon as it is needed.

But Georgia Tech was only one of the groups to attend last weekend's community walk. Groups from other colleges, such as Emory, and high school service organizations also participated in the event. However, families, survivors or victims of suicide made up the majority of the walkers.

The event itself started at Piedmont Park at noon. Participants went on a three to five mile journey around Lake Clara Meer, ending back at Piedmont park around 5 p.m.

The purpose of the Out of the Darkness Community Walk was to raise awareness of mood disorders while reaching out to those affected by either mental illness or suicide. In addition, the AFSP uses donations and event contributions to support their research and activities.

The AFSP's activities include providing education and information about mental illness and suicide, publicizing the effects of suicide and offering programs for survivors of suicide or those who have been affected by suicide. Ultimately, though, the goal of the AFSP remains the same: to determine why suicide occurs and how best to prevent it.

Additionally, the AFSP's efforts are not limited to the city of Atlanta.

Using such statistics as the fact that an additional person will commit suicide in the United States every 16 minutes, the AFSP aims at increasing the awareness of the dangers of suicide all across the nation.

A few years ago, the AFSP began a series of public service announcements. The most successful, "Suicide Shouldn't be a Secret," has reached over 88 million television viewers.

Last year, the AFSP broadcasted a program aimed solely at the survivors of suicide, called the National Survivors of Suicide day program. This program was shown in over 100 communities and on the AFSP website.

This year, the Atlanta-area Out of the Darkness Community Walk was only one of many walks across the nation held over the last month. Over 100 communities hosted thousands of walkers in support of the AFSP.

But such efforts inevitably cost money. Although the AFSP is unusually efficient-using only 19 percent of its income and dedicating the other 81 percent to funding new programs and initiatives-the AFSP relies heavily upon the annual Out of the Darkness walks across the country to raise money.

In addition to walkers, several people, sponsors and organizations choose to donate and support the AFSP.

Several businesses have deals, saying that they will at least match other donations. In particular, organizations such as Wal-Mart and the Johnny Foundation donate thousands of dollars to the community walks.

The AFSP also offers prizes to participants who raise significant amounts of money.

The incentives range from an Out of the Darkness t-shirt for raising 150 dollars to an Apple iPhone or an iPod for those who raise over 5000 dollars.

The single largest fundraiser nationwide earns the coveted grand prize: a trip for two to New York City and an invitation to AFSP's 2008 Lifesavers Dinner.

All in all, the Out of the Darkness Community walks raise large sums of money.

Although money continues to pour in throughout the end of the year, the community walks have currently raised over 2 million dollars.

By the end of the year, the AFSP hopes to raise enough money to continue funding its $5 million invested in current research grants and initiatives.

More information about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and how to donate can be found at the AFSP's website: www.afsp.org.