More than 600 people gathered at Library Mall Saturday to share stories and walk in unity for the UW Suicide Prevention Committee’s second Suicide Prevention Walk.
Through the walk and the yearlong efforts to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the committee raised $28,000, making it the nation’s most successful walk, according to the event’s Facebook page.
The committee was created last year to educate students about suicide and depression and to teach them how to create a safe environment for students with depression.
SPC Member and UW-Madison freshman Maddy Flynn said she and her friends joined the group after one of their best friends, Lindsay Huenink, committed suicide her senior year of high school at Brookfield Central.
According to the Brookfield Patch, Huenink was hit by a train March 30, 2011.
“After losing a best friend to suicide, you just kind of view things a little bit differently,” Flynn said.
But through her friend’s death, Flynn said she and her friends saw an opportunity with the SPC to educate other students about depression and suicide.
“We decided we were going to stay and share Lindsey’s story and hope it can help save lives, because we don’t want anybody to ever have to go through what we did or what our community had to go through last year,” she said.
While suicide is depressing by nature, Flynn said she was happy the walk focused on the committee’s mission and remained upbeat.
“Even though suicide is a really hard topic to talk about and it’s something difficult to discuss with people, I liked how positive it was and how it was more about educating people and making them more aware of it,” she said.
