The Ashe Suicide/Depression Awareness and Prevention Task force is now in the process of finalizing plans for the ninth annual “Sunshine Sunday” and Candlelight Vigil which will be held at the Ashe County Courthouse on Nov. 8.

Community Outreach Coordinator Nancy Kautz of Ashe Healthy Carolinians explained that part of the event is a church oriented project that is held on the second Sunday of every November in an effort to raise awareness of depression and suicide in Ashe County.

The county has routinely finished in the top three spots statewide in suicides per capita but task force officials are hopeful that awareness projects such as “Sunshine Sunday” can reverse this trend.

One segment of the event will include various speakers visiting county churches on Nov. 8 to distribute resource material and bulletins that will contain information on depression and suicide. Some of this material, Kautz explained, will even list Biblical scripture that references depression.

Kautz explained that the concept to organize “Sunshine Sunday” began when local officials discovered just how prevalent suicide and depression had become in the county.

In 1998 a community assessment by A Healthy Carolinians Task Force revealed the grim reality that Ashe County had the highest suicide rate in state. Since then the ASAP Task Force, a subcommittee of Ashe Healthy Carolinians, has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of suicide and to remove the stigma that is associated with depression.

The awareness day has grown since its inception in 2001 and in 2007, it was reported that 11 county churches agreed to participate. It has also received attention at the state level as it was labeled as a “Best Practice” in the North Carolina Plan to Reduce Adolescent Suicides.

Organizers have also scheduled a Candlelight Vigil to be held at the courthouse at 4 p.m.

“The vigil is like a remembrance for those who have lost loved ones to suicide,” Kautz said. “Last year it was very touching. You could tell that there were people who had been grieving for years and hadn’t had the opportunity to voice that until the vigil. You could just tell that these folks were not comfortable sharing these feelings anywhere else.”

The vigil will also serve as a sharing time of stories of departed loved ones who were lost to suicide. People are also encouraged to bring pictures or mementoes of loved ones for the vigil’s story board.

Although Ashe County routinely finishes in the higher tier of suicides per capita in the state, it is not the only rural population center nationwide that must carry this burden.

“High suicide rates are not just us. All of rural America has higher rates than the urban areas which is very interesting.”

The task force’s next step in gearing up for Sunshine Sunday will be to approach the Ashe County Commissioners this Monday during their meeting to ask that the second Sunday in November to be proclaimed “Sunshine Sunday.”

Sherry Goodman and Walt Peterson are tentatively scheduled to speak during the ceremony at the courthouse to share with the audience their experiences of how depression or suicide has affected their lives.

For more information on the event, please call the Ashe Healthy Carolinians office at (336) 846-0781.