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Candle
Light Memorial - Sept. 10, 2007
Remembering Those Lost to Suicide: 6th Annual Vigil Held in Rose Tree Park
UPPER PROVIDENCE - Turquoise and purple balloons were released into the warm, summer air as the sixth annual Candle Light Vigil to remember those lost to suicide got underway on September 10, 2007 at Rose Tree Park in Media. An estimated one-hundred people gathered in the park amphitheater that evening to remember loved ones who died by suicide. Speakers shared stories and memories of family members who had taken their own lives. Some read poems or performed songs they had written, while many others told of their emotional struggle to understand why a beloved parent, son, daughter, sibling, friend or other loved one would complete suicide.
In opening the evening’s memorial, Linda Falasco, the event founder, spoke of the loss of her brother, Jeff, 13 years ago to an “indescribable pain he felt would never let up, as long as he lived.” Falasco says “Even today there is a part of me that can’t understand why (Jeff completed suicide). It makes no sense. I just have to accept it.”
Falasco is one of the founding members of the Delaware County Suicide Prevention and Awareness Task Force who, along with the Survivors of Suicide, Inc. support group, hold this memorial each year during National Suicide Awareness Week. It provides an opportunity for residents of the county and the surrounding area to come together as a way of sharing their grief and their healing. Mary Ellen Carpenter, president of Survivors of Suicide, Inc., asked those attending to “Just for tonight, put aside the ‘whys’ and the ‘what ifs’, the blame, anger, and guilt. Remember the good times you had together.” She added, “We heal best when we heal together.”
Terri Erbacher, this year’s recipient of the Suicide Prevention and Awareness award given by the Task Force, lost her father to suicide in June of 2001. She said, “It has been an amazing journey. To turn what was an awful experience to help to save the lives of others, has been a gift.
Similarly, Falasco explained, “God blessed me with a gift. I didn’t ask for it, but it helped me understand grief, depression and anxiety on a whole other level.”
David McKeighan of the Delaware County Suicide Prevention and Awareness Task Force told those who had gathered of the need to raise awareness of suicide. “Over the past 10 years or so, we’ve lost an average of 60 lives each year to suicides in the county. It’s the 11th leading cause of death in our country and the third leading cause of death in people aged 10-24 years.”
As Rev. Karen Covey Moore, who has experienced several suicide losses, lighted the vigil’s first candle, she hoped that the light and warmth from the flame could pull the survivors out of the darkness. As the light was passed on, a commemorative bell tolled more than one hundred times, each time for a loved one as that person’s name was read.
As the candlelight memorial ended, people spoke of
the four words imprinted on the bracelet that many had put on during the
vigil: FAITH, HOPE, STRENGTH, and LOVE. Guided by these words, this event
provides an opportunity to help people begin to talk about suicide and bring
those who have experienced a suicide loss from darkness into the light.
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Upcoming
Events:
* * * * * * * * *
9th Annual National Survivors of Suicide Day Conference
Sat., Nov. 17, 2007
@ University of Pennsylvania Biomedical Research Bldg. 11
421 Curie Blvd. Philadelphia
(One block south of 38th & Baltimore Ave.,
across from VA Hospital)
Agenda:
Registration at 11:15 Lunch, Satellite Web Conference, SOS
Break Out Groups Closing Ceremony at 3:45pm.
No charge
Call 215-545-2242 for more information.
MEMBERS!
All Task Force members are welcome
to join the
Events Committee on Nov. 8 at 11:30 AM
@ the
Delaware County Medical Society
office to finish
final conference preparations.
The Delaware County Suicide
Prevention & Awareness
Task Force wishes to thank those who made contributions
in honor of Joseph McGowan. Joseph held a special place in
many lives. The gifts are greatly appreciated and will be
used by the Task Force to further its mission.
DCSPATF now can be reached by e-mail at
info@
delcosucideprevention.org
contribute@
delcosuicideprevention.org