The Cranberry Noon Rotary Club will host this year's Walk for Hope: Suicide Prevention and Awareness at 9 a.m. Sept. 9 at North Boundary Park in Cranberry Township. About 160 people took part in 2017. The event is intended to raise awareness, but the club also fundraises and splits the earnings among three organizations.

The Cranberry Noon Rotary Club will host a Walk for Hope: Suicide Prevention and Awareness at 9 a.m. Sept. 9 at North Boundary Park in Cranberry Township.

Shavonne Ayres, walk organizer, has spent the last three years making this project a priority for her Rotary club.

“Originally it all started because of a governor's award project for human dignity and social justice,” Ayres said. “At the time, I had just lost my cousin to suicide, so I thought that was the perfect fit to raise awareness for suicide and try to prevent it.”

Ayres said the event is to raise awareness, but the club also fundraises and splits the earnings among three organizations: Active Minds, which focuses on suicide prevention and mental health awareness on college campuses; VA Butler Healthcare, which provides local suicide prevention for veterans; and Anchor Point Counseling Ministries, a professional counseling, mentoring and group therapy prevention organization.

Ayres said her biggest hope is that the event reaches as many people as possible to “break the stigma on suicide so people will talk about it and get the help they need.”Participants raise money for the three organizations by walking, but funds are also raised through a variety of sponsors.The event has five banner sponsors and nine T-shirt sponsors.“I'm hoping to raise $8,000 this year,” Ayres said. The event made $10,000 last year, but Ayres said she's trying to focus on “how many walkers we get” for the community outreach portion of the walk.Last year, Ayres said between 150 and 160 people participated. Thirty people have signed up for this year's walk.

“Everybody tends to wait until the last second,” Ayres said. “I'm sure it will jump within the next couple of days.”Ayres said she hopes to reach at least 150 walkers again with sights set on hitting 200.“The first we ever did, we had 101 walkers,” she said, “and it's gone up steadily since.”To sign up for the walk or get more information, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/PA/CranberryTwp/CranberryNoonRotarySuicidePreventionAndAwarenessWalk or email Ayres at shavonneayres@gmail.com.

Shavonne Ayres, above, of the Cranberry Noon Rotary Club, organized the Walk for Hope.

At right are some of the participants from 2017. Ayres said she hopes to reach at least 150 walkers again with sights set on hitting 200.