A student-led group at Valders High School has made a donation to Prevent Suicide Manitowoc County.
The group, known as Sources of Strength, held a fundraiser recently that they called “Smash Out Suicide” where they brought in a junker car, and people paid a dollar to smash it with a sledgehammer.
The event raised $405, but another $500 was added to the donation from another student group at the school.
Student Participating in Smash Out Suicide
The group’s adult leader is Allison Taylor, who explained that Sources of Strength is actually a worldwide program that was brought to Valders after they experienced a string of suicides in students and alumni.
Senior Taylor Hammel has been involved with the group since her freshman year.
She told us “Being a part of this helps me realize that you don’t see it until you know the signs,” she explained. “Joining this made me be a better person for people and a better friend for people that are struggling with [their] mental health.”
Hammel also said the things she has learned with this group will help her as she goes to Lakeshore Technical College to become a Radiologist.
Her classmate, Luke Risse, also joined his freshman year, and he said he fell in love with the group because “My dad’s cousin died from suicide, I have been suicidal, and I have talked friends down from suicide.”
As for his goals after high school, he said, “I am actually going on a mission trip across the world. I will be gone for 9 months, going to four different countries to evangelize the word.”
Donna Firman and Luke Risse
Donna Firman, the President of the Prevent Suicide Manitowoc County Board, accepted the check and praised the group for their hard work.
She put it bluntly, “If we don’t protect the mental health of our young people, we will always be in a downward spiral fighting suicide.”
