More than 200 Join the Out of the Darkness Campus Walk

St. John Fisher University students, faculty, staff, and teams from Nazareth College and Roberts Wesleyan University joined together to raise awareness about suicide prevention during the Out of the Darkness Campus Walk, held on campus on Sunday, April 16.

Part of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) signature student fundraising series, the campus walk engages youth and young adults in the fight to prevent suicide. More than 200 people registered for the event and raised $13,800 to support research, create educational programs, and support survivors of suicide loss.

Keynote speaker and Fisher student Liz Gass ’24 shared her experience of intervening for a friend in high school. “To me, the Out of the Darkness Walk is a great opportunity for our community to raise awareness about suicide, which is a serious and prevalent topic in our society,” explained Gass. “From my experience helping to intervene with a friend of mine when we were fourteen, I know firsthand how important it is to inform people about this topic, and my hope is that people will begin to have a deeper understanding and increase prevention efforts so that we can see less lives lost to suicide."

Fisher’s Athlete to Athlete club was the top fundraising team with $1,625 raised. Community organizations Compeer Rochester and Veteran’s Outreach Center also joined the effort at Fisher. “It was great to have community participation and see such great campus-wide engagement around the topic of suicide prevention and awareness,” said Becky Kieffer, the chair of the JED initiative and director of the Health and Wellness Center. 

The walk was organized by Fisher’s JED campus initiative, and made possible with support from the Office of the President, and campus partners including the Wegmans School of Nursing, the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, School of Business, School of Arts and Sciences, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education, Office of Campus Ministry, Office of Student Engagement and Leadership, the Health and Wellness Center, and the Student Government Association.

If you or someone you know is in a crisis, help is available. Please call the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988 or text TALK to 741-741.