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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Bloomington walk promotes suicide prevention, healing

Out of the Darkness Community Walk

Marc Siegel remembers the day IU made it to the Final Four.

It was 2002, his sophomore year. He and friend Ira Klapper marched from Varsity Villas to Kirkwood Avenue with a group of friends. Klapper carried a bullhorn, and they were all screaming, “Go Hoosiers!”

Siegel found himself at the stadium nine years later with the same group of friends.
Just like the day IU made it to the Final Four, he and his friends wore cream and crimson.

This time, on each of their shirts was a small button with the words “Team Ira.”

The group walked five miles Saturday morning in the Out of the Darkness Community Walk, an event organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

They walked in memory of Klapper, who committed suicide in June.

“It’s something that nobody had any clue that he was thinking about doing it,” said Siegel, a 2004 graduate. “The people who are thinking about suicide, they forget there is a support system out there.”

The third annual walk was meant to raise awareness about depression and suicide as well as raise money for the foundation.

“We have a lot of teams that are walking in memory of someone that they’ve lost, so it’s a great way for them to memorialize their loved ones,” said Maranda Richardson, co-chair of the event.

Richardson estimated about 600 people gathered at the stadium the morning of the walk. The night before, online donations had reached $14,000.

There were two routes — a three-mile route and a five-mile route — that stretched from the stadium through the heart of campus, with a stop at IU Art Museum at the mile-and-a-half point.

There, walkers could leave messages in sidewalk chalk about the loved ones they had lost.

“In loving memory of Andrea. We miss you.”

“We love you, Brity! Love, Whit and Davis”

Sketched in orange, cursive letters near the concrete wall of the museum was an ambigram of Josh Novak’s design.

From one direction, it read, “RIP”. From the other, it read, “TIM,” in honor of his cousin, Tim England, who committed suicide a year and a half ago.

“We’ve always had four-wheelers and dirt bikes and stuff, so I think most of our greatest memories were out in the woods, riding,” Novak said. “He was definitely an outdoors man.”

This was the second year Novak participated in the Out of the Darkness walk.

About 45 of England’s friends and family members drove 40 miles this year to walk in his memory.

Siegel and his friends chose to walk the full five miles, which led them around the perimeter of the campus of which they have so many memories.

They walked down Jordan Avenue and Third Street, as the scheduled route dictated, but they took a detour to visit the house on Atwater Avenue that Siegel, Klapper and two of their friends lived in during their junior and senior years.

The group walked on, sharing memories of Klapper, laughing at some of the stories.

Siegel’s team raised about $1,800 for AFSP, which will fund research of depression and suicide.

The money will also provide sources for suicide prevention.

“Hopefully, this can help publicize the organization or help them with their programs, just to help people understand that there are solutions out there. There’s help out there,” Siegel said.

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