I came back from the national convention struggling for how I was going to Be the One. How was I supposed to lead my post in the Be the One effort? John B. Lyman American Legion Post 904 does lots of things well and works the programs of the American Legion Family to a high level, but how do we tackle this?
The Post 904 entertainment committee was itching to do something different and an effort to raise money for a new American Legion mission is something we try to respond to. The comedy show promised us a high degree of community visibility, with promises from comedian Mike Bova to get us on local media to promote our outreach. The American Legion’s focus is to bring attention to this issue and try to encourage someone struggling with suicide to come forward and ask for help. To the Post 904 Community Health and Wellness committee, promoting the Be the One program was the way to meet the call to action. Just like the race car at the national level, the post was going to draw eyes to the issue to try to “destigmatize someone struggling asking for help.”
I was struck by something said at a suicide walk by a North Country Veterans and Service Member Suicide Prevention Coalition member when I was talking about destigmatizing the asking for help. “We don’t ask for help! No one asks for help for lots of things. But when we see an elderly man struggling to shovel his sidewalk or a mom struggling to open her car door to get her kids and groceries in, we just help them.” I thought a lot about that the truth of that statement and thought, what is preventing us from offering help? What is preventing us from noticing, reaching out, knowing what to say and being the one for someone struggling?
Post 904 has a history of not only supporting The American Legion's mission but insisting that effort be made locally as well. The benefit is a community ready to support Post 904 because its outreach benefits the local citizens in direct and tangible ways. So, when the idea to give all the money over to the department outreach was shot down, a compromise was struck to increase our suicide prevention efforts locally. Money raised would go to the department effort, but money would also be used to sponsor lunch for VA S.A.V.E. training and a large modern TV for education and training at the post in our many other community outreaches as well.
The show was a hit and we did great with the effort. The mission of raising awareness of the issue in the community worked as well, including exposure on Channel 7 news with a morning interview. The major surprise in the effort was the response to VA S.A.V.E. training held at the post. Department Commander Dave Riley Sr. and his wife Laurie registered and participated, as well as Bonnie Fikes from State Sen. Mark Walczyk’s office. The class comprised not only Sons, Auxiliary and Legion members of our post, but the Clayton, Watertown and Carthage posts participated as well. The group also included representation from Clear Path for veterans and members of our community. A great cross-section of people with different reasons for attending but all focused on the mission of reducing suicide. Riley Sr. was very pleased to see three other posts represented at the training and the entire Legion Family as well. The commander said, “I appreciate John B. Lyman American Legion Post 904 for taking the lead and offering the VA S.A.F.E. training at the post level.
“This is exactly the training the Be the One campaign wants to see at the post level. We want our boots-on-the-ground American Legion Family to be knowledgeable and comfortable in being able to recognize when a veteran is in distress and how to get them the help they need.”
The results of a very good training session put on by Kaitlynn Tredway from VA, and Commander Dave’s words of encouragement, brought commitments from other posts like Carthage to do training at their post as well and promises to bring the training back to their own memberships and families from the others. Past Carthage Post Commander Janice Gravely said it well: “We are each other’s keepers and S.A.V.E empowers us with tools to Be the One who makes a difference.” The momentum is growing and there will be more to this effort in Jefferson County and the Department of New York to provide more opportunities for S.A.V.E. training.