The American Legion Family at Post 66 in Illinois has created an event that brings together multiple mental health resources for veterans and their families.
After retiring from a long career that included both nursing and healthcare leadership, Cindy Hupke was looking for something else meaningful to do. She found it in both the American Legion Auxiliary and The American Legion’s Be the One veteran suicide prevention mission.
And out of both of those came what will be the third annual Be the One Walk in DeKalb, Ill., that will feature hundreds of area residents raising awareness about the Legion’s efforts to stem the tide of veteran suicide.
Hupke’s husband Jim, a U.S. Air Force veteran and member of American Legion Post 66 in DeKalb, urged her to get involved in the Auxiliary. That involvement took off quickly.
“He said ‘the Auxiliary is something that would be great for you to join’ because he was very involved with the post,” Cindy said. “So I joined the Auxiliary. At the first meeting they voted me in as secretary.”
Hupke said she’d accept the position, “but only if we can do something really substantial for our veterans.’” It was May 2023, and Hupke had just read an article in The American Legion Magazine about Be the One. “I said ‘I think we should get involved with something like that. I’ll take it on if you guys will help me.’” (STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
Over the summer Hupke developed a strategic plan that she presented to the unit in September that had three primary components:
· Building awareness. “The importance of getting people to change is creating a sense of urgency,” Hupke said. “That was, for me, building awareness. There is a problem out here. Nobody wants to act on it until they understand that there’s a real problem.”
· Partnerships and relationships. “We can’t do it alone,” she said. “We’re a little post in the middle of the Midwest. We know that in order to make something happen, we have to build partnerships and relationships that can actually help make a difference. That can build or already support veterans in crisis.”
· Spreading knowledge. “We needed to have events or methods to spread knowledge of what we were doing to others,” Hupke said. “We need to be able to spread that knowledge beyond our little post. It was going to go nowhere if we kept it at our post.”
From those components came Post 66’s Be the One Walk, which will take place this Saturday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. at the Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Health & Wellness Center. Registration is online and onsite; Hupke said 160 people already have registered online, while another 100 or so are expected to register the day of the walk.
Registration for the walk, which includes both 2.2-mile and 1-mile circuits, is free.
“The walk raises awareness. It’s the reason we don’t charge anything for it,” Hupke said. “We want the largest numbers possible walking with us down a busy street that is used a lot in our community. When we have 100, 200, 300 people walking together with a Be the One flag, with an American flag … when people see that when they’re driving by, they go, ‘What is this Be the One thing?’ It’s a method of building awareness and spreading awareness.”
Twenty-two rocks will be carried along the route to represent the lives of those lost daily to veteran suicide. Those who know a veteran or soldier who has lost their life due to the struggle of PTSD, depression, sexual trauma or other mental health issues can dedicate a rock in that veteran’s name.
Those unable to walk the route can participate in other ways, including taking part in Tai Chi, chair yoga and labyrinth meditation. And there will be various vendors and exhibits onsite that will share information focusing on local, state, federal and nonprofit veteran mental health support and services, including a Be the One table.
“Each resource table that is there has to have something to do with breaking down those barriers for vets to get that type of help they need to overcome their resistance to getting help,” Hupke said. “The walk is truly something more than just a walk.”
And following the walk, there will be a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ S.A.V.E. Training sessions. The training focuses on four key facets:
· S - Signs of suicidal thinking should be recognized.
· A - Ask the most important question of all, “Are you thinking of killing yourself?”
· V - Validate the veteran’s experience
· E - Encourage treatment and expedite getting help.
“(The event) is an incredibly powerful way of supporting our veterans who are still going through this battle,” Hupke said. “When they show up – and we’re having more and more veterans showing up who are struggling – they see this massive group of people there for them. And we’ve had vets say, ‘I felt this sense of support that it was OK for me to say I’m not OK.’”
- Be the One