Over 200 runners and walkers gathered at the starting line Saturday morning to start a race toward suicide prevention in Putnam County.
Through donations of over 450 individuals and organizations, the "Be Great Today" 5k race raised $17,000, over three times the organizers' initial goal, that will go toward suicide prevention education. The race was created over the summer in honor of Marshall Mathew, a DePauw student who took his own life last spring. The title of the race pays tribute to his phrase "be great today," and its purpose was to raise suicide awareness and prevention.
Race co-founder junior Jimmy Kirkpatrick said the financial outcome came as a positive surprise to all involved in the race.
"We set out to establish a fund at the Putnam County Foundation, and we just shattered our goal," Kirkpatrick said. "It was really touching to have everybody out here registering and having a great time."
Kirkpatrick said the funds raised through the event will go to the Putnam County Community Foundation and will be accessible to groups seeking financial support in suicide education and prevention programming. He also said the $17,000 raised by the race will last over 20 years in financing suicide education efforts.
Kirkpatrick highlighted the fact that the funds will be accessible to groups interested in suicide education and prevention each year by application. He said he hopes through the organization's initiatives, suicide will become a more accessible topic.
"This is about putting suicide prevention in the spotlight so that people are actually talking about it in our daily discourse," Kirkpatrick said. "Do I think it will have a direct impact that we'll see in the next year? Probably not. But in the end I think that the good is not only to have more people who are talking about it, but to have people that are trained and capable to identify and stop it."
Executive Director of the Putnam County Community Foundation Elaine Peck has been working with Kirkpatrick and co-organizer sophomore Stephanie Sharlow, co-chief copy editor for The DePauw, to create specific plans for the available funding. Peck said decisions for the funding will be made once the donation is officially submitted.
Kirkpatrick said the efforts of students, volunteers and community members contributed to the financial success of the race.
"It's obviously a very exciting feeling to be able to raise that much money," Kirkpatrick said. "The outflow of support from the community has just been incredible."
Susan Mathew, Marshall's mother, expressed her excitement about the event just before lining up at the starting line.
"I am so honored, humbled and amazed by what Jimmy and Stephanie and all the people who have helped them have done," Mathew said. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world to honor them and Marshall."
Mathew said the event reminded her of Marshall and made her appreciate what a good son and individual he was.
"Looking around at all the kids, I wish I could see Marshall's face," Mathew said. "It makes me miss him a lot. I always thought he was an amazing kid, I'm not just being biased as his mom, he was really an amazing guy."
Kirkpatrick also said the event brought a variety of emotions for him.
"It's a mix of so many feelings," Kirkpatrick said. "I've been in tears of joy and sadness, it's been a mix of both. I think we are having a bittersweet feeling thinking together we are doing something great that will last for up to 20 years in Putnam County but at the same time, we are also mourning the loss of somebody being affected by suicide."
Kirkpatrick said he has experienced other instances of suicide, and he believes the race serves as a memorial event for anyone who has experienced suicide.
He said Marshall would be pleased with the outcome of the race.
"To have so many people who were not just affected by his suicide, but by suicide in general, coming out to support him, that was just awesome, and I think he would approve," Kirkpatrick said.
Overall, Mathew expressed that she hopes the race and resulting educational programs promote awareness and assistance for anyone considering suicide.
"I hope it makes a difference for someone else," Mathew said.
—Michael Appelgate contributed to this story