American Legion Department of Florida District 13 Commander Bud Boyer said that the state has led in veteran suicides for the last three years. “Here in Florida, you can talk to anyone at a post, and they are going to know someone who (died by) suicide,” Boyer said. “The ones that need help, we have to help them. That’s why it’s important to dedicate our time and money to this cause (veteran suicide prevention awareness) … we are taking care of our brothers and sisters that we trained with, we fought with, we came home with. We have to take care of each other.”
The District 13 American Legion Family – Legionnaires, Sons of The American Legion, Auxiliary and Legion Riders – supported their mission of caring for each other by holding a veteran suicide awareness event at American Legion Post 110 in Port Charlotte, Fla., March 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event was open to veterans, their families and caregivers, and the community, where 25 vendors were onsite to help with mental health, counseling, filing VA claims, and more.
“I think the biggest thing for veterans is that we don’t always know the resources,” said Mike Turner, a member of Post 38 in Fort Myers and the co-chair for the event’s committee. “We tried to cover the whole gamut of providing for servicemembers in the state of Florida, for veterans in the state of Florida, for the family and dependents and for caregivers. We had quite a bit of care to help heal people or get them to know that there is a way to heal.”
A few of the vendors included veteran service officers to file claims, Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention and homeless outreach, Charlotte County Veteran Services, Fort Myers Mobile Vet Center, I’ve Got Your Six, service dogs, PTSD Awareness Summit, equine therapy, American Foundation of Suicide Prevention Southwest Chapter, Comfort Keepers for the caregivers, Florida Medicare for veterans who don’t use the VA to utilize, Marine Corps League, National Veterans Resources, and the Department of Florida’s Project Vet Relief, which the event helped raise money for to provide assistance to veterans in crisis.
“If we saved one person (Saturday) we did a lot,” Boyer said. “They came in, got their claims help and got to see all of these other people out there that are willing to help. This is for the veterans, this is the most important thing to get these guys and these girls and these girls to stop and say ‘Hey, I have more to live for, I don’t want to do this. I want to live.’”
