Participants in the Be Great Today 5k ran through
DePauw's nature park Saturday morning ot raise
funds for suicide prevention.
CHRISTA SCHOEDEL / THE DEPAUW
This past Saturday, the fourth annual Be Great Today 5K race was held in the DePauw Nature Park. Through registrations, raffle ticket sales, and donations, $4,650 were raised that will go into Be Great Today’s endowment through the Putnam County Community Foundation, and donations are still continuing to arrive. These funds will help to create suicide prevention and awareness programs in Putnam County, especially on DePauw’s campus.
About 175 people were in attendance to run, walk, or cheer at the finish line, in addition to dogs brought by several families. There was a strong presence of DePauw alumni as well, including more than a dozen members of Beta Theta Pi from the pledge class of Marshall Mathew, the DePauw student to whose memory the race is dedicated.
DePauw senior Patrick Ozog, one of the organizers of the race, considers this year’s event to have been successful. “We surpassed our goals for participants and donations,” he states. He was also glad that the message behind the race, suicide prevention and awareness, received more exposure through the event.
According to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 18 percent of undergraduate students have seriously contemplated suicide at some point during their lives. Ozog stresses that there are resources available to anyone who is in need of help. Just having a support group to which one can reach out can be helpful in these instances. The Wellness Center also offers counseling services for students who wish to have someone to talk to on campus.