Participants in last year’s walk placed photos of lost loved ones on a memory board by the Depot Park fountain. The board will be back, and families and friends are encouraged to bring photos. (Tribune file photo)
CULLMAN – On Saturday afternoon, Karma in Cullman will mark Suicide Prevention Awareness Month with its second annual Walk of Hope at 3 p.m. in Depot Park. Karma founder Rachel Bryant began the event last year, after a marked rise in suicides in Cullman County.
At the first walk, Bryant explained to The Tribune, “After logging on (Facebook) and seeing article after article in The Cullman Tribune and other news articles, and we were losing more and more Cullman County residents to suicide, I just realized that it was a heartbreaking epidemic that was going on. Sadly, one of my children lost a very good friend, and the pain in their eyes…I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do to take that pain away.
“So my thought was, ‘I can’t take that away, but maybe we can stop it from happening again.’ That’s when I decided that we had to do something; we had to take a stand. At the time, even if I had to take a stand alone, I was going to do it. I realized I wasn’t going to stand alone. There’s a lot of people who were prepared to stand with me.”
On Wednesday, The Tribune spoke with Bryant about this year’s event, and she said, “The true point is just gathering and remembering those we lost and supporting those who are fighting . . . and we want those who are suffering to be able to gather. That’s the biggest point of Saturday.”
Robert Spicer of BlueyOne DJ will be on hand to provide tunes, and characters from the movie “Trolls” will be around for the kids. A local tattoo artist will display samples of the semicolon “my story isn’t over yet” logo (no tattoos done onsite). LifeSouth will be present for a blood drive, which Karma regularly supports. Heads Up Prevention from Wellstone Behavioral Health will also be there, and Karma will make ribbons and buttons available to participants.
The back of this year’s commemorative event shirt reads “For anyone considering suicide, please know that you are truly loved, wanted and needed. Even if the bad thoughts try to tell you otherwise. Your loss would cause excruciating pain and grief for so many. Those who love you would cry and ache to hold you again. These are not just pretty words. They are the truth because there is a piece of my heart in Heaven.”
The Tribune once asked Bryant, “If you knew a young person in danger right now, what would you say to them?”
Bryant replied, “I would tell them, ‘You’re not alone. God loves you, I love you. It is a battle, but you don’t have to fight it alone. There’s always someone else out there who’s also fighting. All you’ve got to do is reach out, and you’re going to find somebody who’s going to reach back.”
About Saturday, Bryant concluded, “The biggest thing is just getting together and showing support for each other and just being the light in someone else’s darkness.
“Come out, and, if you’ve lost a loved one or if you’re suffering, know that your friends will be there Saturday.”
For more about Karma in Cullman, visit www.facebook.com/groups/1437544579798507/.
At a glance
Karma in Cullman “Walk of Hope” Suicide Prevention Awareness Walk
Saturday, Sept. 8, starting at 3 p.m.
Depot Park in downtown Cullman near city hall, the Festhalle and the Old Depot
If you have lost someone, you are invited to bring photos for a memory board.
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