Oklahoma Auxiliary member has organized two Be the One walks and resource fairs, calling it her purpose after her husband’s suicide.
In 2023, Amanda Nieto lost her husband, U.S. Navy and U.S. Army veteran Frank Nieto, to suicide. While it was devastating, she didn’t want his death to define her.
And in part because of finding The American Legion Family, it hasn’t. It’s driven her to help others who have also been impacted by suicide.
“Suicide has affected my life and my family in ways that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. (Frank’s suicide) completely changed my life,” Nieto said. “My experience with grief led me to know that you can be given a story for your life, but you don’t have to make it your own story. And that I’m pretty proud of.
“You learn to walk the path you’re given. Initially I hated this walk of my life. But I was very lucky in that I found a purpose and a lot of meaningful connections in my community. But a lot of people aren’t that lucky.”
About a year and a half after Frank’s death, Nieto started volunteering at American Legion Post 184 in Moore, Okla., after attending a Veterans Day event there. She began handling the post’s and American Legion Auxiliary Unit 184’s Facebook pages, eventually joining Unit 184.
In 2025, Post 184 member Danny Thomas had read through the Legion’s media channels about a Be the One Walk that took place in another state that June. Thomas emailed Nieto and suggested the post’s Legion Family do something similar.
“When I saw that email, I thought, ‘We need this in our state,’” Nieto said. “I didn’t want it to be just a walk. I wanted it to be something people could take something from. So I started contacting different organizations.”
With the added component of a resource fair, Post 184’s first Be The One Suicide Awareness and Prevention Walk drew 102 walk participants and 12 organizations and agencies to the resource side. This year’s, which took place in late October, saw the number of walk participants double, while the resource fair drew 31 agencies, organizations and community partners. (STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
“When I first started planning the walk last year, I never wanted to focus on the attendance. It was never about how many people showed up,” Nieto said. “It was getting one person who didn’t know about a resource, one family who needed to feel a connection, one resource finding out people do need what they provide.”
Nieto called both veteran and community organizations. “We tried to get the entire community involved. Everybody and anybody who wanted to come was invited.”
This year’s resource attendees included the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Cleveland County Sheriff Department, both the U.S. and Oklahoma Departments of Veterans Affairs, Grand Canyon University and Tinker Federal Credit Union.
At the resource fair, entertainment was provided by veterans who are a part of Strings of Valor, a program of the Opry Heritage Foundation of Oklahoma. The program has provided free guitar lessons to over 250 veterans going through the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System’s Recreational Therapy Department.
And two of the four speakers at this year’s resource fair shared their own personal connection to suicide. “You got to hear from people who found passion in their lives afterward,” Nieto said. “People who took their personal strategies and made a purpose out of it. Turned their life into something to serve others.”
That’s what Nieto has done.
“The American Legion gave me a purpose,” she said. “Through The American Legion and through this walk I found a purpose to share resources and to share the story that you’re given isn’t the story you have to tell.
“The purpose of the walk isn’t just about Frank. It’s about the people and the families who have been affected by (suicide) and about the people that are struggling themselves. To be able to show those that there is support. That is what inspired to do the walk.”
- Be the One