49 Miles for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (Part 2)
Tax deductible
This is just a modest, individual fundraiser during the month of May – Mental Health Awareness Month. I (Taylor) will be running 49 miles during the month to honor the 49,000+ deaths by suicide in 2023, as reported by the CDC (the latest available data). All funds raised will go directly to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a leading nonprofit for this effort.
This is the second year for this fundraiser, which raised $282 toward the cause in 2024.
Since January, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) suffered staffing/funding cuts before being disbanded, the LGBTQ+ youth suicide hotline was removed from the federal budget in a recent proposal, and threats to Medicaid funding continue. Mental health services and resources are in dire need of support during unprecedentedly uncertain times.
Please consider a donation to the cause. The goal posted is entirely arbitrary. Keep in mind that GoFundMe will take 2.9% + $0.30 (per donation) of all donations. If you’d rather contribute through a channel other than this GoFundMe to avoid the fee, my Venmo is @trlehman23, and I’ll send a receipt to each Venmo donor at the end of the month, to prove your donation made it to AFSP.
I’ll post updates of my running progress throughout the month, and if you’d like to join in the running, please feel free!
More facts regarding mental health and suicide prevention:
- Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death in the US.
- In 2023, 12.8 million adults seriously thought about suicide and 1,5 million attempted. A death by suicide occured once every 11 minutes.
- After the national suicide rate climbed to a new peak (14.2 deaths per 100k) since 1941, that rate fell to 14.1 in 2023.
- Firearms account for 55% of suicides.
- Among the 57.8 million adults in the US with any mental illness in 2021, only 47.2% received mental health services, and only 44.6% adults aged 18-25 received mental health services.
- While most quantifiable data regarding how many Americans have been exposed to suicide remains unclear, a formerly normalized phrase would say “six people are left behind” when someone dies by suicide. A 2018 study published in the National Library of Medicine estimated that the number is actually closer to 135, not 6.
- 21.8% of children aged 3-17 have a mental, emotional, or behavioral health condition.
- Sources: National Institute for Mental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Thank you!