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One dead after Hazleton shooting

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New St. Jude Roman Catholic Church dedicated in Wright Township

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; People from all walks of life participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk, hosted by the Greater Northeast PA chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on Sunday.</p><p>The walk began in Kirby Park and led walkers to Public Square and through a few residential streets before returning to the park.</p><p>According to its website, the foundation is the nation&#8217;s largest nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention.</p><p>The just over 3-mile walk is meant to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention, co-chair of the walk Anna Elkin-Wren said.</p><p>Members of the foundation use donations to visit places like schools and businesses that have been affected by suicide, or want more resources to prevent it.</p><p>Area director of the eastern and central Pennsylvania chapters of the foundation, Samantha Benz, added that any money that doesn&#8217;t stay local goes to advocating for legislation dealing with mental health, as well as funding research grants for people studying mental illness and suicide prevention.</p><p>Participants formed teams in January, Elkin-Wren said, and did fundraising on their own prior to the walk. The foundation is collecting donations until Dec. 31.</p><p>The walk began around 2 p.m., and was preceded by an opening ceremony, which included a reading by participant Dawn Evans of a poem entitled &#8220;We Remember Them.&#8221;</p><p>Kylie Lotz sang the National Anthem and volunteered to help the foundation sell merchandise.</p><p>The shirts at the table where Lotz sat read, &#8220;Be The Voice.&#8221; Lotz explained that this slogan dealt with the stigma associated with mental illness.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a sort of summation of taking the taboo away from talking about suicide and suicide prevention,&#8221; Lotz said. &#8220;Not that you want to normalize it, but the more you talk about it in a way that&#8217;s fair and honest, it takes the stigma away. I think that makes people who are struggling &#8230; maybe feel more open talking about their experience and accessing help.&#8221;</p><p>Donna West Campbell, Elkin-Wren&#8217;s mother-in-law and fellow volunteer, said that she understands the need for increased honesty in conversations about suicide, because she has worked as an addiction nurse for six years &#8212; and that wearing the foundation&#8217;s merchandise alone has opened up several of her patients.</p><p>&#8220;Wearing the clothes to work &#8212; &#8216;be the voice,&#8217; &#8216;out of the darkness&#8217; &#8212; it has had a lot of the addicts and alcoholics I work with come to me, and otherwise they won&#8217;t,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s very eye-opening to see how sometimes they (addiction and suicide) go hand in hand.&#8221;</p><p>Elkin-Wren said that Northeastern Pennsylvania has a specific need for suicide prevention resources.</p><p>&#8220;The suicide rate is rising in the area &#8230; the opioid epidemic correlates a lot with this. A lot of people resort to drugs when they are feeling depressed or anxious,&#8221; she said. &#8220;A lot of that is going on in our community. So I think it&#8217;s more important than ever to raise awareness and show people that they have support.&#8221;</p><p>The walk is an emotional event for those affected, Elkin-Wren said.</p><p>Denise Mengak, a clinical social worker, sat at a tent in Kirby Park to offer support for those at the event who might have been having a hard time. She is a board member of the local chapter of the foundation.</p><p>Mengak is also a facilitator of a suicide bereavement group, sponsored by Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services, and an employee of Catholic Social Services. At her tent was a variety of resources for those in grief.</p><p>&#8220;The loss from a suicide is what they consider a disenfranchised grief &#8212; that is a type of loss that our culture shuns, and people don&#8217;t feel that they are embraced or accepted through the normal types of support,&#8221; she explained.</p><p>&#8220;All kinds of folks have come today. People with new loss, people who are here getting resources for their family members who kind of just were too overwhelmed and couldn&#8217;t attend today &#8230; It&#8217;s something that no one wants to talk about, but something that I think has touched almost everyone&#8217;s life.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Walkers took over Public Square on Sunday for the Out of the Darkness Walk, meant to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_IMG_9830-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Walkers took over Public Square on Sunday for the Out of the Darkness Walk, meant to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. </caption0><photoCredit0>Toni Pennello | The Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_kylie-and-dawn-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dawn Evans, right, reads a poem before the Out of the Darkness Walk began in Kirby Park on Sunday, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Kylie Lotz, left. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_kylie-and-dawn-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dawn Evans, right, reads a poem before the Out of the Darkness Walk began in Kirby Park on Sunday, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Kylie Lotz, left. </caption1><photoCredit1>Toni Pennello | The Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_other-square-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Walkers took over Public Square on Sunday for the Out of the Darkness Walk, meant to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_other-square-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Walkers took over Public Square on Sunday for the Out of the Darkness Walk, meant to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. </caption2><photoCredit2>Toni Pennello | The Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_CMYK-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dawn Evans, right, reads a poem before the Out of the Darkness Walk began in Kirby Park on Sunday, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Kylie Lotz, left. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_CMYK-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Dawn Evans, right, reads a poem before the Out of the Darkness Walk began in Kirby Park on Sunday, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Kylie Lotz, left. </caption3><photoCredit3>Toni Pennello | The Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Toni Pennello</p><p>tpennello@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Toni Pennello at @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out of the Darkness Walk meant to raise money, awareness for suicide prevention