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The Run for Tomorrow 5K is back for a second year, and organizers say the first race did more than raise money. It helped build a local safety net for families touched by suicide.
The inaugural run raised more than $15,000 for suicide prevention in Baxter County. This year’s race is set for 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at ASUMH, and organizers hope to grow that impact.
“We’re just really hoping to continue to grow that impact,” organizer Summer Sasser said.
“Whether someone comes to run or walk, or volunteer or support, we’re helping spread awareness,” she said. The goal, she added, is to show people who are struggling that they are supported.
Much of last year’s money went toward postvention, the work of supporting people after a suicide death.
Some of the funds paid for resource packages for families who have lost a loved one to suicide. The packages include crisis resources, local therapist information and support group details.
The race also helped fund a local response team. When a death by suicide occurs, the county coroner’s office alerts the team, and members reach out to the family to offer help.
Sasser has taken that on personally, along with Jamie Leach and Baxter Health chaplain Randy Ludwig.
“Myself and Jamie Leach and Chaplain Randy have offered to go in and speak to these families after they’ve lost a loved one to suicide, and just ask them what they need,” Sasser said.
Race money also brought in a guest speaker. Dennis Gillan, founder of the Half a Sorrow Foundation, is scheduled to speak the evening of Sept. 12 at the Vada Sheid Community Development Center at Arkansas State University-Mountain Home.
Gillan lost two brothers to suicide and now speaks across the country on prevention and hope.
“He has just an incredible story that he shares with people to bring awareness and hope and light,” Sasser said. Organizers, she said, are excited to host him.
The run began as a personal mission for Sasser. She started it after losing her fiance, Christopher Albertson, the father of her two oldest children, to suicide in 2018.
Sasser works at Ascend Wealth Management, and her boss, Mike Stockton, has backed the run from the start. His firm sponsored the first race so registration fees went straight to the cause, and that race drew 206 runners and walkers to ASUMH.
People can register, donate or share the event through the race page at https://runsignup.com/Race/Register?raceId=201424.
The event’s message stays simple: stay. Organizers ask people to stay for tomorrow, for the people who love them and for the hope that brighter days are ahead.
It is the same message Sasser delivered at the first race.
“We want you guys to stay,” she said. “We want you guys to fight and we want you guys to fight again tomorrow.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a free service available 24 hours a day.
