Are you looking for a worthy cause?
Here's one.
It’s the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
I am still surprised — and so disappointed — that Ohio has 50% more suicides than homicides.
It's not that I'd rather have more homicides than suicides. (I'd like none of each, please.) I'm surprised and disappointed because homicides fill our newspapers and fears…
…and yet we barely ever address suicide.
Why don't we address the challenge?
Do we think that anyone's suicide is inevitable and unpreventable — so intervention is not cost-effective? Is suicide such a taboo that we just steer clear of the topic?
That should not be so. Suicide is a major public health problem: the 11th leading cause of death in Ohio, killing 1,200 Ohioans each year, three per day.
More discussion would lead to more understanding. More understanding, I believe, would lead to the saving of many lives. And those lives — the part yet to be lived — can still provide their greatest value to society.
What can you do to help change the world?
- Visit the Foundation's website. Read page 1 and page 2 of the Foundation's brochure.
- Invite the Foundation to send an expert speaker to your audience.
- Contact the OSPF executive director, Carolyn Givens.
Of course, there's always: 4. Donate money. Carolyn Givens can tell you how.
Feel free to forward this to anyone. Carolyn would be glad to talk
to any interested person about possible volunteer opportunities.
Here's my personal motivation: the suicide of a role model.