FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
Out Of The Darkness Walk
Local group to put on suicide prevention event for first time in Jenks By Kyle Salomon Thirteen years ago, Robin LeBlanc started the “Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk” in Tulsa after the death of her son, Tyler. For the first time in its history, the annual Suicide Prevention Walk will take place right here in Jenks Sept. 26 at the Riverwalk Crossing. Heather Borsuk and Jennifer Palmer, who both lost their sisters to suicide have joined the team this year to help LeBlanc.
Borsuk said safety will most definitely be a priority at the event. “Whatever is going to make people comfortable,” Borsuk said. “We want to make it as safe as possible for people to actually physically be there because that is the whole point of the walk, is to know you are not alone and have a place to go and a place to get resources.” Registration for the walk will begin at 8 a.m. There will be two waves of walks. The first wave will walk from 10 a.m. to noon and the second from noon to 2 p.m. The main ceremony with the three guest speakers will take place between the two waves of walks around noon. The Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, a military chaplain, Hope is Oxygen and other resources from local and national suicide prevention groups.
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September is National Suicide Awareness Month across the nation. “There is a lot of support and a lot of resources we want to make available to the public,” Borsuk said. “My story is I actually ended up back in Tulsa after my sister died by suicide three years ago. It changed my life forever. I have tried to use my pain to make a difference and help save lives. It’s not the story you want to be telling, but I the more vocal we are about it, the more we can do to help people, who are struggling.” The event is free to participate, but it is a fundraiser and donations are welcome. All the money raised will go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to help the fight against suicide. Donations are accepted through Dec. 31.
“People have lost their jobs and have been in isolation,” Borsuk said. “All of that has caused a huge surge in suicides. People need to be together. In Jenks, we are going to take the precautionary measures to make sure people are feeling comfortable. Volunteers will wear masks and gloves. Masks are not required for the walk, but you are welcome to wear one if you would like. Masks will be offered at the event.” This annual game had achieved mythic status and seemed to consume our communities each year. Although some high school teams played their games that weekend, the decision was made that we would not compete in that regular season as a small token of respect for the national tragedy and those who had lost their lives.
Roadmap For The Future May Be Found In The Past
By Eric Fox
On September 10, 2001, I was a husband, father of two expecting a third, an American history teacher and assistant football and wrestling coach at Jenks High School. On September 12, 2001, those statements were still true, but of course, things had changed dramatically. As part of my duties as a football coach, I had been working since the weekend on preparations for the “Backyard Bowl” rivalry against the Union Redskins.
I remember being a history teacher in the classroom on Sept. 11. We listened to my radio to try to figure out what was happening. There was great confusion and I tried to reassure students (and myself) sometimes with new information and analysis but sometimes at poor attempts at humor to lighten the mood. I had students with parents who were flying that day, a time before a cell phone in every pocket and instantaneous communication via text, so there was legitimate concern about family members. Even in the days that followed, there were moments of numbness, sadness, trauma and anger, but one thing I remember clearly in my school and my community -- there was a time of coming together and a firm resolve to move forward boldly while also recognizing the healing that needed to take place. As a history teacher, I have often walked students through historical calamities, challenges, and tragedies by examination of what went wrong but also what went right. Who emerged with voices of reassurance, hope, and inspiration during times of turmoil, crisis, and chaos?
In a funeral eulogy delivered on September 18, 1963 after four young black girls, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair, were killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated in part that although their lives were cut short by hatred, the murdered girls still had lessons to teach. He said, “They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution ... Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.” In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois and delivered a famous speech called “The House Divided Speech.” He said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.” Unfortunately, there was an attempt to dissolve the Union which was only avoided by the bloodiness of the Civil War. CONT on pg 9...
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