Some ran fast; some not quite so fast.
Ditto for the walkers and the bike riders, but it didn’t matter Friday night because they showed up for the annual Everybody Hurts Run, Walk and Ride for more important reasons
Runners begin the 5K race during the Everybody Hurts that shines spotlights on both mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
— to raise mental health awareness and rally around suicide prevention.
And the 80 or so folks — more, many more, came out for a great supper, an informative program and a chance to bid on a myriad of silent auction items — who took the 5K course couldn’t have asked for a better evening to go on a run, take a walk or ride a bicycle.
“Honestly, we had a late rush of people so I’m not sure how many took part in the race,” Everybody Hurts founder and volunteer Dawn Heying said. “If we could order that kind of weather for every year, trust me, we’d do it in a heartbeat.”
By the time the evening was over, the organization that Heying started after her daughter, Brittney, died from suicide in the summer of 2020, had raised thousands of dollars that it will use to continue its scholarship program, help those with mental health needs and bring speakers to Chickasaw County.
Everybody Hurts founder Dawn Heying shares some thoughts following the race.
“We can’t thank people enough for supporting us,” Heying said, “and it does mean the world to us to see the Chickasaw Event Center full of people who understand the importance of mental health.”
Friday’s event marked the sixth straight year that Everybody Hurts has held the event, and the organization welcomed back a powerful ally in Ryan Nesbit, a Dunkerton native who helped start “Alive and Running” to honor the memory of his best friend in high school who took his own life in 1991.
“I love running and I loved my friend,” he said. “That’s why we started Alive and Running and it’s why when Dawn started this, I was all in. We tend to find each other, the people who have been through this I mean, and I’m just so proud of everything they’re doing up here.”
Nesbit shared several “positive statistics” — the suicide rate is falling, for example — before the race but he said Iowa must do better.
Asked how, he responded quickly.
“Money, money, money, especially state of Iowa money,” he said. “I think the last I saw we were 47th when it came to beds available, number of counselors. We’re terrible and we have to commit to it. Events like this help.”
Following the race, the director of Senior Life Solutions, a mental health program based at MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center, made the pitch to the crowd to develop connections when dealing with mental health issues.
“If you look around,” Ashley Evans said, “we can’t tell who’s struggling for the most part. We can’t tell who’s not struggling. … And connecting with one another on
Samantha Schulz and her son, Oliver, head out on the Everybody Hurts Run, Walk and Ride
a real level, on a 1-on-1 level, is really important.”
Evans also said that while the stigma of mental health isn’t what it used to be, it needs to be removed altogether.
“I think we need to start talking about mental health just the way we talk about high blood pressure,” she said.
“Seeing the number of people here who are willing to support this cause, that gives me hope.”