The 3rd annual Oakley Out of the Darkness Community Walk will take place on Saturday October 14 at the Freedom High School Gym.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at Cypress Grove Community Park, however, due to poor air quality, the event was moved to Freedom HS.
In a statement:
The program will start at 9am. We will have local resource booths, remembrance activities, great speakers and more. We apologize for any inconvenience but we do not want too put anyone at risk by holding an outdoor event under these conditions. We thank you for your understanding and look forward to seeing you Saturday!
As of Friday morning, the event had raised $40,680 while 649 walkers have been registered for the event according to Vanessa Perry.
Registration will begin at 8:00am. The opening ceremony and walk will start at 9:00am.
The walk was first brought to East Contra Costa County after a group of community members realized there had been a significant increase in suicides in Oakley and the surrounding areas. The goal is to showcase community support and to help lower those numbers.
“Suicide affects one in five American families. We walk to bring awareness to this leading cause of death and let people in the community know that they are not alone. There is help out there for those who live with a mental health condition and support for those who have lost a loved one to suicide,” said Vanessa Perry, Chair of the Oakley Out of the Darkness Walk.
“These walks are about turning hope into action,” said AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia. “Suicide is a serious problem, but it’s a problem we can solve. The research has shown us how to fight suicide, and if we keep up the fight the science is only going to get better, our culture will get smarter about mental health, and we’ll be able to save more people from dying from depression and other mental health conditions.”
Out of the Darkness Community Walks are fundraising walks supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The Oakley walk is part of a national Out of the Darkness walk movement, consisting of Community Walks, Campus Walks and two Overnight walks each year.
In 2016, AFSP hosted more than 500 Out of the Darkness Walks spanning all 50 states, uniting more than 240,000 walkers and raising millions for suicide prevention research, education and advocacy.
Registration is FREE. To find out more, sign up to volunteer or walk at the event, please go to
https://afsp.org/oakley.
If you have any questions about the event please email [email protected].
