Hey Fellow Survivors,
My name is Ashley Fieseler, and I am a 21 year old girl passionate about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I work/help with this foundation in honor of my amazing Mom who took her life October 27th, 2005. I became very active with the foundation in January of 2009 by raising $1,000.00 dollars for the foundation and walking in the 18 mile walk in Chicago. When I first heard I had to raise $1,000.00 dollars I was nervous because it was a high goal. My coach at the time reassured me I could do it, and my great buddy Gayle cheered me on the whole way. Last year I raised over $2,000.00 dollars, over-exceeding my goal!
So now I’m in my second year, this time Boston, and I’ve got to admit the goal of raising $1,000.00 again makes me a little nervous. But I did a repeat of my last fundraisers by bringing back my big success of doing a bake-sale. I again asked all my friends and family to help me bake, because I’m not the best in the kitchen. I also asked parents at the day-care I work at to help make some bake-goods as well, and they all eagerly helped. So I set the date to February 16th, “Fat-Tuesday.” I had so many donations of bake-goods from my friends, family and parents that I crossed my fingers to sell them all.Some people gave me some odd looks as I was doing the bake-sale at my work, a YMCA. Many people passed on the delicious bake-goods, but still donated. I talked to so many great people about their life stories and how they them-selves have either been suicidal or have lost a loved one to suicide. It was a great feeling to let the people know that there is help out there. Of course I had some great little helpers from the day-care, their smiles sold a lot of bake-goods. One little girl even tried to sell my poster! And I couldn’t have made it through the exhausting day without my amazing boyfriend Tim. It was really hard at times to speak about my mother because it brought back many memories, but I remembered it was for her and me. There were also great moments of laughter, and encouragement.
At the end of an exhausting day, we did the official count, and we raised $650.00 dollars for the foundation! All of this was possible by just asking people for help, it was a rejuvenating experience. I was again made aware of how willing people are to help, all you have to do is ask.
I hope you all have great experiences in raising money for either yourself or your loved one. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my amazing Mom. And I am glad that this foundation is here to help others like my mother, before it is too late. Thank-you all for checking out my story! To check-out more and follow my many more fundraisers go to www.ashleyfieseler.com
Your Survivor Buddy,
-Ashley
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Overnight Walkers in the News
Each year, several our participants utilize our Hometown Press Release to share their stories and help spread awareness in their communities. Here's just a small sample of what has been published so far:
Tari Atheron's story in the Orland Park Prairie and the Braidwood Journal.
Laurie Chester's story in the Newburyport News
Diane Welch's story in the Woburn Wicked Local
Tari Atheron's story in the Orland Park Prairie and the Braidwood Journal.
Laurie Chester's story in the Newburyport News
Diane Welch's story in the Woburn Wicked Local
**Don't forget to check out our blogroll to the left of the page to see which Overnight Walkers we're following and stay up to date with their stories and progress**
Monday, April 5, 2010
For Lily, With Love and Hope
Spring has sprung...
FINALLY, spring weather has arrived here in New Jersey and I am able to start training in earnest for the Overnight. This will be my third AFSP Overnight Walk--2007, 2008, and now 2010. Training is an exhausting, time-consuming, sometimes uncomfortable yet exhilarating experience during which you learn a lot about your stamina and your determination--not to mention how to soothe a host of aches and pains. In the past, I have trained in spring weather that was so unseasonably cold I had to dress as if I were going on a ski trip. On the other hand, during the 2008 Overnight itself, it was so hot and humid in NY that I could not keep my glasses on my nose--they kept sliding off! In future posts, I will regale you with stories about my training walks if I think you may find them amusing or interesting and hopefully pass on some tips to any first-timers out there.
But since this is my first posting to this blog, today I want to talk about what motivates me to participate in the Overnight. In the past I have walked in memory of my son Justin's friend, Lily Diana Karian, who died by suicide on December 12, 2006. Our team is called, appropriately, Walk for Lily. Lily had turned 19 that October and was barely three months into her freshman year at Tufts University. I will tell you more about Lily in later posts; she was a remarkable young woman and people should know about her and what the world lost with her passing. Participating in the Overnight in Boston this year will be especially poignant. Tufts University--from which Lily would be graduating in May had she not died--is located in Medford, a suburb located just a few miles outside of Boston. Lily grew up in Sudbury, a beautiful town located about a half hour outside of Boston. Because of the location, we hope to have a large team of Lily's friends, people from her church, and family who might not be able to participate if the Overnight were held in a more distant city. So in some sense I feel that this is Lily's special Walk.
This year, unfortunately, I am walking not just for Lily but for others as well. My younger son, Brian, attends Cornell University. During this school year, an unfathomable SIX Cornell students have chosen to end their lives by suicide. During one week in March two young men died, one on a Thursday and one the very next day, barely 24 hours later. The devastation wrought by such losses is beyond words.
Right now we have the tools to help many--but not all--individuals facing depression or other mental disorders, including those contemplating suicide. We need more research, and we need more outreach so that people who are suffering know that help is available and--even more importantly--know that there is no shame in seeking such help. Mental illness is an insidious disease, one that still carries a stigma. Many people don't think it's "real," that those afflicted should just "snap out of it" or "stop feeling sorry for themselves." But in fact NO ONE is immune from its devastation. As the President of Cornell University, Dr. David J. Skorton, has repeatedly told students over these last few painful weeks, "If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help." This bears repeating, and you should repeat this mantra to anyone who you think may be suffering from mental or emotional turmoil: PLEASE ASK FOR HELP!!
If traipsing around Boston for a night in June will raise money to support research and outreach that will save the life of even one person, prevent heartache for even one family, I believe I will have done something worthwhile. That is why I walk. I hope many of you reading this will join me on my journey in whatever way feels right for you.
-Rhonda Silver, team captain of Walk for Lily
FINALLY, spring weather has arrived here in New Jersey and I am able to start training in earnest for the Overnight. This will be my third AFSP Overnight Walk--2007, 2008, and now 2010. Training is an exhausting, time-consuming, sometimes uncomfortable yet exhilarating experience during which you learn a lot about your stamina and your determination--not to mention how to soothe a host of aches and pains. In the past, I have trained in spring weather that was so unseasonably cold I had to dress as if I were going on a ski trip. On the other hand, during the 2008 Overnight itself, it was so hot and humid in NY that I could not keep my glasses on my nose--they kept sliding off! In future posts, I will regale you with stories about my training walks if I think you may find them amusing or interesting and hopefully pass on some tips to any first-timers out there.
But since this is my first posting to this blog, today I want to talk about what motivates me to participate in the Overnight. In the past I have walked in memory of my son Justin's friend, Lily Diana Karian, who died by suicide on December 12, 2006. Our team is called, appropriately, Walk for Lily. Lily had turned 19 that October and was barely three months into her freshman year at Tufts University. I will tell you more about Lily in later posts; she was a remarkable young woman and people should know about her and what the world lost with her passing. Participating in the Overnight in Boston this year will be especially poignant. Tufts University--from which Lily would be graduating in May had she not died--is located in Medford, a suburb located just a few miles outside of Boston. Lily grew up in Sudbury, a beautiful town located about a half hour outside of Boston. Because of the location, we hope to have a large team of Lily's friends, people from her church, and family who might not be able to participate if the Overnight were held in a more distant city. So in some sense I feel that this is Lily's special Walk.
This year, unfortunately, I am walking not just for Lily but for others as well. My younger son, Brian, attends Cornell University. During this school year, an unfathomable SIX Cornell students have chosen to end their lives by suicide. During one week in March two young men died, one on a Thursday and one the very next day, barely 24 hours later. The devastation wrought by such losses is beyond words.
Right now we have the tools to help many--but not all--individuals facing depression or other mental disorders, including those contemplating suicide. We need more research, and we need more outreach so that people who are suffering know that help is available and--even more importantly--know that there is no shame in seeking such help. Mental illness is an insidious disease, one that still carries a stigma. Many people don't think it's "real," that those afflicted should just "snap out of it" or "stop feeling sorry for themselves." But in fact NO ONE is immune from its devastation. As the President of Cornell University, Dr. David J. Skorton, has repeatedly told students over these last few painful weeks, "If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help." This bears repeating, and you should repeat this mantra to anyone who you think may be suffering from mental or emotional turmoil: PLEASE ASK FOR HELP!!
If traipsing around Boston for a night in June will raise money to support research and outreach that will save the life of even one person, prevent heartache for even one family, I believe I will have done something worthwhile. That is why I walk. I hope many of you reading this will join me on my journey in whatever way feels right for you.
-Rhonda Silver, team captain of Walk for Lily
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