11th Annual Suicide Awareness Banquet Held

The annual, Suicide Awareness Banquet was held at Coburn United Methodist Church Thursday evening.

This was the 11th year for the event. We spoke to Jim Still-Pepper, Coordinator for Teen-To-Teen who told us people gathered from 6 different counties to celebrate and promote the human role in preventing those from suffering a death by suicide. Still-Pepper told us more about the evening.

“This has been a highlight event for the last several years and really, people walk away giving us feedback that this is inspiring and that it recharges them and will take us through to the next year because this is a battle that we are committed to doing in the long run.”

The event was hosted by the members of the Health and Recovery Services Board Suicide Prevention Coalitions. According to the Ohio Department of Health, “suicide is the second leading cause of death in Ohio teens.” We had the chance to talk to three young guest speakers, Morgan Combs, Taylor-Still Pepper and Makyla Lewellen. She told us the purpose behind their messages.

“We like to give the kids a lot of hope and I think its important for adults to know as well, that hope is a big part of preventing suicide and helping depression.”

Morgan, Taylor and Makyla told us that it means a lot for them to have spoken at the evenings event. An estimated 112 people registered to attend.