Out of Darkness Walk in Goleta raises $16,000 for suicide research

GOLETA, Calif.-

This morning the annual Out of Darkness walk in Goleta raised $16,000 for suicide research.

More than 100 people showed up to Goleta Beach Park and expressed solidarity with those who have lost a loved one to suicide.

“It was extremely emotional, especially with, you know, mothers and stuff. I have my son with me and um, I hope if he ever has any thoughts like that, I hope, you know, he'll remember something like this and he knows I, he can talk to me about it,” said attendee Isabella Jamis.

People like Desert Ahana walked 2 miles along the coast to honor those who have passed.

“This is a cause. It's very near and dear to my heart. I've lost friends and I've seen a lot of people struggle,” said Out of Darkness Walk Chairperson Desert Ahana.

Those who attended wore multi colored necklaces called honor beads that represented who they were honoring on their walk.

“We have beads for loss of veterans, loss of siblings, loss of parents, loss of members of your community and many others,” said Ahana.

Many people like Ray Fuller have been participating in the Out of Darkness walk for years.

“Our son died by suicide ten years ago. Time doesn't pass that quickly,” said Fuller.

Fuller says that the way he honors his son is by trying to make things better for other people who are struggling.

He and his wife find the 2 mile walk to be therapeutic.

“Even though we're kind of crippled up, can't make the whole walk we hobble along for as much as we can. and it makes us feel better,” said Fuller.

Many advocates say that suicide prevention work starts by destigmatizing the word “suicide”.

“Suicide is something that we may not ever be able to fully eliminate. But if we can talk about it, we've got a really good chance,” said Ahana.