CORDELE– This Saturday, March 17 will be the first Walk for Suicide Prevention in Cordele. The walk will begin at 9 a.m. located at the Crisp County Recreation Department walking track. The walk is in memory of Brandon Jacobs, a 20-year-old man who committed suicide on February 3, 2016. His mother, Becky Vaughn is arranging the event in partnership with the Cordele-Crisp Chamber of Commerce.

“I can think of at least two more men here in Crisp County for 2016 and then probably five or six people in Crisp County in 2017 (who have committed suicide). But nobody in town wants to talk about it. It’s in memory of my son. I just posted one day on Facebook that I would like to do something like that then the Chamber with it and it went from there,” Vaughn said.

So far there are about 125 people registered to participate in the walk. Vaughn says that she is still receiving registration forms daily via email from more people who are planning on taking part. The event is completely free, and people are encouraged to come the day of, even if they haven’t registered.

“The reason we have the registration forms is so we can order enough t-shirts because the event is completely free. I want teenagers and young people to not be discouraged from coming because of any kind of cost to it. We’ve gotten several sponsors from around town to help make it happen,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn hopes to continue and make this an annual event with each year in memory of different people who have committed suicide.

Facts about suicide in Georgia:

According to the CDC, Georgia lost 1,409 people to suicide in 2016. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in Georgia, 2nd leading cause of death for ages 25-34, 3rd leading cause of death for ages 10-24, and 4th leading cause of death for ages 35-54. Nearly twice as many people die by suicide in Georgia annually than by homicide; the total deaths to suicide reflect a total of 26,788 years of potential life lost before age 65. In the United States, every year men die by suicide 3.57 times more often than women do. The rate of suicide is highest in middle age men. White males accounted for 7 of 10 suicides in 2016. On average, there are 123 suicides in the United States per day. Firearms account for 51% of those suicides.