Annual Walk for Life - May 6, part of NNEC's Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program
NNEC and the Town of Sioux Lookout hosting Annual Walk for Life - May 6
SIOUX LOOKOUT – April 22, 2009 - Northern Nishnawbe Education Council sponsored the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program by launching the campaign in all of their schools in February 2006. The Yellow Ribbon campaign uses cards to spread the message that it is okay to ask for help. On one side of the card are instructions to hand the card to a trusted person (parent, teacher etc) if you are feeling troubled. On the other side are instructions to stay with the person who handed you the card, until the person is safe. The campaign is designed to show youth that it’s OK to ask for help.
The Yellow Ribbon campaign has helped save many lives since NNEC launched the program in 2006. Now Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, along with the community of Sioux Lookout is inviting you to join us in the 4rd Annual Walk for Life on May 6, 2009. The message needs to be spread to live life. The Mayor of Sioux Lookout has declared May 6 Sioux Lookout Suicide Awareness Day and this is the day that will be used to show that life should be celebrated.
The walk will begin at 10:30 am at the parking lot across from the Royal Canadian Legion with participants carrying Yellow (environmentally friendly) balloons in memory of those we have lost to suicide. The walk will commence down Front Street to Queen Elizabeth District High School where the yellow balloons will be released. Everyone is invited to attend.
There will be a light lunched served at the high school while a number of guest speakers and survivors of suicide speak to the audience. Guests will include Elder Josias Fiddler, Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, Chief Clifford Bull, and Keynote Speaker, Arnold Thomas.
Arnold Thomas is a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation of Idaho and Nevada. Since 1991, he has been speaking to communities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He combines his own personal experience and research data to convey his message. In high school he was recognized as one of Nevada’s elite football and basketball players. He dreamed of becoming a professional athlete. That did not come to be. On a warm summer night after turning 18, Arnold stuck a hunting rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. The gunshot wound severely damaged his face and left him completely blind. He was unable to speak for several years. With the support of his community, his family, and his friends along with his own renewed will to live, he survived this challenging period of his life and slowly began to put the shattered pieces back together.
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Contact:
Norma Kejick, Principal
Wahsa Distance Education Centre
807-737-1488
nkejick@nnec.on.ca