Raising awareness on preventing veteran suicide
A special fundraiser Saturday is raising awareness and support for veteran suicide prevention. Veterans face numerous mental health challenges like PTSD, depression and anxiety and sometimes those challenges can lead to suicide.
This is why organizers involved with nonprofits like 22 Too Many and Adopt a Soldier, are honoring the life of Jen Costello and turning her pain into a mission.
The event is being held at Fabulous Times Bar in Youngstown at 3681 Connecticut Avenue all Saturday evening. Organizers say Costello was a devoted mom who tragically took her life, just one year after her veteran son died the same way.
"She had a very strong passion for helping our veterans and their families because what she endured as a mother and what she went through, she just didn't want another family to go through that," Maggie Conce, event organizer, said.
Conce said too many military families and veterans suffer from lack of mental health support.
"Like my nephew after he was out he just felt like there was no, he didn't have a place after he got out because, you know, they built you up to be a machine," Conce said. "Then you get out and you're just like a normal person again, and he struggled with fitting in and I think a lot of our veterans feel that way," she said.
Conce said these kinds of fundraisers help to provide military families with the resources they need, so they don't have to suffer through the pain that other families have experienced.
"By providing the families to meet other families, share their stories, I think it's a comfort," Sue Wackerline, founder of Adopt a Soldier, said. "And I also think it enables them to start to speak outside of their comfort zone to educate the American people, which that's the only way this is going to stop," she said.
Conce tells 21 News it's necessary to uplift and encourage our veterans.
"We always want them to know that what they have done for our country is so important and they always have a purpose," Conce said.
Organizers are hoping for a future where every veteran can feel valued and supported and they will continue to shed light on the issue of veteran suicides.
