Audrey Wirtz, Kenmare

My husband and I, along with a number of friends and family members, took part in the “Out of the Darkness” walk at Roosevelt Park on Sept. 7. This walk is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which is the leading not-for-profit national organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy, and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide.

In the United States, a person dies by suicide every 13.7 minutes, claiming more than 38,000 lives each year. Our daughter, Tracy, was one of those who died this past November.

As we walked with close to 400 individuals in Minot that day we joined the effort with thousands of people in hundreds of cities across the United States to raise funds and awareness for AFSP’s vision to create a world without suicide. I do not have exact figures, but I believe approximately $35,000 was raised at this event. I commend the many volunteers who organized the walk and made it a most meaningful experience. I was, however, disappointed that there was no mention of this event in The Minot Daily News. Sunday’s paper on Sept. 8 had two front-page pictures of people cleaning up in Oak Park, and I’m not saying that was not a worthy cause I just wish there had been some coverage of the event going on at Roosevelt Park as well.