Did you know that September was National Suicide Prevention Month?

If you answered no to that question, you’re probably in the majority which is part of the reason why several Beaver Area High School students decided to bring awareness to the cause. And what better way to bring awareness than a Charity Tailgate in a Beaver park?

Senior Gary Liu got inspiration for this project when he wanted to earn the FBLA Keystone Leadership Award. One of the requirements for this award was to participate in a national organization called Lead4Change, a student leadership program that focuses on community change.

Liu combined his passion for advocating for mental health/suicide prevention with his love for the Beaver Area FBLA program to create a fun homecoming football game tailgate to bring awareness to this important cause.

Liu organized the tailgate with the help of two other FBLA members: senior Payton Cutshall and sophomore Elizabeth Paskey. This hardworking team started this project June 26 and worked on it throughout the summer, and the event itself took place September 23 from 6-7:30 p.m.

Liu partnered with Beaver County Behavioral Health who provided the event with free goodie bags, resource cards, candy, and pamphlets, as well as Nicolina’s Wishes Charitable Foundation which provided bracelets to sell during the event.

On the day of the event, $4 awareness bracelets were sold as admission, and the night was filled with food, face painting, word searches and puzzles, affirmations, and card making stations. Liu, Cutshall, and Paskey with the help of Mrs. Guandalo, Paskey’s parents, and senior Georgia Engle handled all setup.

This event was extremely successful, raising $252 with all the proceeds going towards Nicolina’s Wishes.

Liu stated that he “started this project from seeing how sensitive people reacted to the words ‘suicide’ and ‘mental heath.’ In today’s society people acknowledges suicide and mental health; however, nothing is really being done to help it. Many older generations acknowledge mental health as it being for the weak. This is inaccurate and harmful, so I wanted to create a platform for this serious issue to be acknowledged in this community and provide resources for people struggling and scared to reach out.”

“Opening the floor for this topic would spread awareness and decrease the rates of suicide by allowing people to feel free to seek mental health in this community,” shared Liu.

Liu’s dedication to this cause and the hard work he put into this event is inspiring to all of us!