This year Twenty Sides to Every Story participated in Jasper’s Game Day, a fundraising effort initiated by a friend of ours, Fenway Jones, to help raise funds for organizations committed to the cause of suicide prevention and education. At the beginning of June I offered to run multiple sessions of Dungeons & Dragons in exchange for a $50 donation to our Jasper’s Game Day efforts. We had quite a few folks sign-up and a number of people who joined us for multiple games.
Our efforts were going towards the Center for Suicide Awareness, an organization that has tremendous reach by way of their HOPELINE service. HOPELINE is a text-in emotional support line that people can use whenever they feel they need someone to talk to. We decided to choose this organization because their service extends not just across the United States but even internationally. We were able to raise $1,413.30 for their organization with the power of our hobby.
After our event, I went to the main office of the Center for Suicide Awareness in Kaukauna, WI. Its a tiny little office that is situated on the third floor of an assisted living facility. I talked with the executive director, Barb Bigalke, and the community outreach director, Lynn Stinski. They both were very thankful and appreciative of our efforts and I told them I would let you all know how important our donations were to their organization. The HOPELINE has extended reach beyond Wisconsin and is now international – they have tracked that the HOPELINE was responsible for intervening in 130+ active suicide situations.
The organization is continually undergoing funding challenges and efforts like ours help to keep very basic but essential operations to continue. They have some heavy costs in terms of postage and printing – they showed me a huge basket of outgoing mail that they had for the day. They organize materials for community organizations and high schools and they have a high volume of requests for these. They have stuff going out across Wisconsin all the way to Washington State, Texas and Florida! They said that donations like ours help to make sure those materials get out to the places that they need to be – the HOPELINE only works if there is decent exposure and awareness about it.
One thing that was really cool to hear is that they attend the PAX events! They have a very healthy and positive position on gaming, and in particular video gaming, seeing it as an avenue to reach individuals who need the support of mental health services. They are a fixture at these events now and the organizers of PAX have insisted that they be present at all PAX events going forward. Going forward they are going to be doing presentations on mental health and gaming as well as the HOPELINE at these events. I discussed with them Gamehole Con and we brainstormed a few ways they might get more involved with the tabletop community.
The topic of challenge coins has been brought up within our Discord server at times. The Center for Suicide Awareness also has given thought to this and specifically created one to help with the work they do with veterans. They have an initiative called the “I CHALLENGE YOU to 22” Program. Basically it entails getting a Challenge Coin into the hands of a veteran who could use the support. The challenge coin expresses a message of hope along with the number for the HOPELINE on it. The are being handed out primarily by police departments (over 50 are participating!) to veterans they encounter that could use help and support. These challenge coins can be purchased for $10 at the Center for Suicide Awareness website.
It was a great visit and a wonderful time meeting some of the faces behind this organization that does so much with so little! Hope we are able to partner again!