Fight Suicide Walkathon

Hanbin Lee

On August 21, KHFSS visited a park located at Reston to join a walkathon. The pandemic, which is still not over, pushed many people into depression, and so was I. Accordingly, the purpose of the activity was to gather people in the community for a walk to promote positive energy. According to scientific researches, walking has a lot of benefits for health. Thus, this activity helps the participants relieve their stress by walking and with friends and families.

During the first hour, I guided and gave out water bottles to participants in the middle of the trail. As I saw the happy faces on the walkers, I was encouraged for helping them. After that, I helped out cleaning up the activity stations. Overall, I think it was a good opportunity to promote positive energy in the community and for myself to have me going for another school year.

Jaewon Jang

The Suicide Awareness Walkathon was an eye-opening experience as I did not expect so many people to complete such long walks in a small-scale event. The total length of the trail was about 1.5 miles and the fact that a wide range of diverse ages participated showed to me there are a lot of people fighting against suicide and are actively taking part in awareness events and activities. I also handed out food to the participants who had completed the long walk. Several hours later the event came to a close, and as we held the closing meeting, I felt proud to serve in this community and fight against suicide.

Sunwoo Lee

The Walkathon was an insightful experience. At the break of dawn, I walked toward the woods in a group of volunteers with large packs of water bottles in order to give water bottles to the runners. The myriad amount of runners showed me how many people were willing to actively take part in suicide awareness activities. During the daytime, I then walked back to the main pavilion and gave out food such as donuts and bananas to the runners and other volunteers. As the event was coming to a close, I was tired yet satisfied with our hard work during the day. Despite the exhaustion I endured throughout the event, the camaraderie of the people around me along with the motive for the Walkathon - suicide awareness - made the event especially enjoyable.

Sean Yim

The Walkathon was a fascinating experience. I spent most of my time helping out at the water station. I had to carry loads of water bottles up and down hills multiple times for 0.75 miles each time. The helpers of the water station expected to have a cart to carry the water more efficiently. However, there was no cart so we had to hand-carry the packs of water from the pavilion to the water station multiple times. The terrain of the path was not flat, and carrying the water uphill was extremely difficult. By the end of the Walkathon, I had carried packs of water for multiple miles, up and downhills. In the end, it was very pleasant to be working with other helpers.

Ihan Do

Participating in the walkathon was a great experience for me. Seeing the community come together to support such a serious and important cause (the prevention of suicide) really opened my eyes and made me realize what we as a community can do when we come together. The walkathon allowed for everyone to share and connect with each other their own stories and experiences which was amazing to see. In addition to supporting an amazing cause, the walkathon was also very fun. I got to see many of my friends and meet many new people. It was organized and set up very well so that the event could run smoothly. One of my favorite stations to volunteer in was the activity booth, which was where we would do activities such as slime making, rock painting, and bracelet making with children.

One thing I thought was great about the walkathon was that it allowed people who didn’t speak much English to talk to other people about their experiences. Getting mental health help is very difficult when you don’t speak English, and this was a great opportunity for them to come together and help each other. Overall, the walkathon was an amazing experience for me and I’m glad that I could participate in it.

External link: https://www.restonnow.com/2021/08/20/reston-suicide-awareness-walkathon-seeks-to-fight-stigma-around-getting-mental-health-help/