By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
September is Suicide Awareness Month, and a pair of activities are lined up to raise awareness in Great Bend. Suicide Prevention Task Force is hosting the 10th Annual Golden Belt Glow 4 Life one-mile walk and 5K remembrance ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 17, and the second annual Pedal for Prevention event on Saturday, Sept. 24. Suicide Prevention Task Force Chair Holly Bowyer said the events are important reminders for the community.
"Unfortunately, suicide can impact anyone," she said. "It's impacting children at the grade-school level all the way up to the geriatric level. Sometimes people don't even know somebody is suffering because they try to make everybody else happy."
Early registration for the Glow 4 Life event ends Aug. 31. For $25, participants will receive a T-shirt and glow stick. Registration after Aug. 31 is $30.
"We also do luminaries for those who have lost a loved one," Bowyer said. "Each registration is included with one, or they can purchase additional ones. We have them so they can pick them up on Monday, Sept. 12, take them and decorate them and bring them back that night."
Glow 4 Life begins at 6 p.m. at Vets Park with a brief remembrance ceremony. A warm-up follows before the races, with the runners taking off ahead of the walkers.
Great Bend student Devin Randolph was 14 years old when he passed away in September 2020. A year later, his parents created Devin's Ride to remember their son and raise suicide awareness. The bike ride traced one of Devin's favorite routes from the skate park at Brit Spaugh Zoo to Vets Park. Riders wore orange shirts - Devin's favorite color - with his picture.
"At the end, they had s'mores and a time of remembrance," Bowyer said. "They did 150 T-shirts, just for first-come, first-serve, and they had probably over 250 people that rode that ride. They had bicycles, they had people walking, they had RZRs, they had trucks, they had all kinds of things."
The Pedal for Prevention event begins Saturday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. near the skate park in Brit Spaugh Zoo. Pre-registration is preferred and costs $15, with proceeds going towards a scholarship fund.
For additional registration information, contact Bowyer at the Center for Counseling by calling (620) 792-2544, or by emailing hollyb@thecentergb.org. Registration forms may also be found at ckpartnership.org under the Suicide Prevention tab.