Strength Through Support

Personal tragedy spurred Windermere agent Lisa Jungemann to raise awareness for a vital cause.

BY ISABELLE JOHNSON

MARCH 24, 2013, WILL ALWAYS live in Lisa Jungemann’s memory. That was the day her 18-year-old son Matthew died by suicide.

For any parent, losing a child causes profound grief. And Jungemann, a Windermere agent in Salt Lake City, was no exception. Determined to prevent other families from experiencing such a tremendous loss, she has channeled that energy into educating others about suicide while preserving Matthew’s memory.

“If the only thing I can do is raise money and awareness by talking about it, then that’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to do it with passion,” Jungemann says.

About six months after Matthew’s death, Jungemann joined the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP)’s annual Out of the Darkness walk in her home state of Utah. Since its inception, Jungemann’s walk team—named MJ40 for Matthew’s initials and his lacrosse jersey number—has raised more than $70,000. On top of that, every year she awards $1,000 in her son’s name to a graduating senior at his alma mater, Juan Diego Catholic High School.

“A parent doesn’t want to see their child forgotten, so that has been an important way for me to kind of keep his memory alive—not the way he left this world, but what he did while he was here,” she says.

The annual fundraising walk is just one way Jungemann interacts with the AFSP. She’s also turned to the organization for connection to a supportive community and resources, including its SafeTALK program, which trains participants to identify warning signs and discuss suicide with a loved one who might be at risk.

This kind of education is critical to prevention, says Jungemann, who believes that if she’d only known the right questions to ask her son, she would have known what actions to take. To that end, Jungemann has shared what she’s learned, and her own experience, in public speaking events.

“I don’t want another mother not to know what questions to ask her child or what resources are available, so that gives me purpose,” she says.

The Salt Lake City-based agent has also found support for this important cause through a very different source: the Windermere Foundation. For the last 30 years, the Foundation has collected a portion of the proceeds from every home sale or purchase to donate to agent-nominated charitable efforts in the communities Windermere serves. Last year, the Foundation fulfilled Jungemann’s request, donating $5,000 to the AFSP Out of the Darkness walk. She says the Foundation has also pledged the same amount for the next Salt Lake City walk, which takes place on September 14.

Looking ahead, Jungemann hopes to see real changes through bills passed by the state legislature that will provide awareness programming, gun safety training, and increased public mental health resources.

“Ultimately, my goal is to prevent suicide,” Jungemann says. “It’s an epidemic, and I think you have to look at the big picture and ask yourself, how many people’s lives can we save?”

Learn more about the Windermere Foundation at windermerefoundation.com.