2019 Year in Review
We wanted to take this time to wish you all a Happy New Year and reflect on this past year. All throughout 2019, we continued our support efforts for individuals and families by listening, educating and raising funds. We raised over $30,000 through events and painting sales this year alone. Plus, we produced 20 paintings, totaling 130 paintings since 2017. Below is a recap of our year, month by month. We are thankful for all of your support this past year.
JANUARY
We visited Jackson’s Tree, a memorial that was dedicated to Jackson and stands in front of the NDSU (North Dakota State University) Renaissance Architecture building downtown Fargo, ND.
FEBRUARY
Mass was offered for Jackson at St. Paul’s church in St. Cloud, MN, in honor of his birthday and anniversary of his passing. That same month, Dr. John Schmitz and Dr. Ryan Engdahl spoke on CentraCare’s implementation of the zero suicide model at Sertoma (Service to Mankind) Club.
MARCH
With funding from Design Electric, McDowall Company, and the Jackson Roeder Memorial Fund, CentraCare was able to add Lisa Bershok to their team as a suicide prevention program manager. CentraCare also added suicide resource information to screensavers throughout their system, featuring the Jackson Roeder Memorial Fund. We attended an event at Cream City Tattoo in St. Cloud, MN where Jackson’s artwork was displayed to raise money for Project Semicolon and The Beautiful Mind Project. During the event, we spoke about CentraCare’s zero suicide model. We also had Jackson's artwork displayed at the White Horse in St. Cloud for the Spring Art Crawl.
APRIL
Jackson and the Roeder family were the featured family at Let the Sun Shine Walk/Run in Cold Spring, MN. We also participated in We Walk for Life in Hutchinson, MN and Stand Up to Stigma, a fundraiser for The Beautiful Mind Project in St. Cloud, MN.
MAY
Lisa Bershok, CentraCare’s suicide prevention program manager, was introduced to the St. Cloud School District as a mental health and suicide prevention resource for staff and students. Also in May, Project S.A.V.E (Sports, Arts, Volunteerism, Education), CentraCare Health Foundation and Marco partnered to help spread awareness about suicide prevention and mental health in our community. Throughout the month, we donated paintings to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and Barrick Charity Golf Classic in an effort to raise money for NAMI’s efforts in Central Minnesota.
JUNE
We reached out to local legislators on improving mental health access for students through Active Minds. We also completed a two-day NAMI survivors voice training and are now able to assist NAMI by speaking at mental health and suicide prevention events.
JULY
Together with Project S.A.V.E, St. Cloud Rox, CentraCare Health Foundation and Marco, we raised over $26,000 for CentraCare’s Suicide Prevention Fund at a Rox baseball game. During the game, educational information was provided by the Jackson Roeder Memorial Fund.
AUGUST
We started the Jackson Roeder Memorial Facebook page to continue to share information with the community on mental health and suicide prevention and encouraged people to stay up to date with events. We also donated paintings to the Matt Orth Memorial golf tournament where the funds raised went to CentraCare’s Suicide Prevention Fund.
SEPTEMBER
During September we attended a variety of events, including Get Busy Livin’, Out of the Darkness Community Walk and Ripple Effect, a mental health event at CentraCare. We also hosted Tending for a Cause at Beaver Island Brewery where Scott Roeder and Dr. Ryan Engdahl bartended and raised $1,600 for CentraCare’s Suicide Prevention Fund.
OCTOBER
In October, Jackson’s story was featured in CentraCare’s year-end campaign letter.
NOVEMBER
We donated educational material to the International Survivor of Suicide Loss Day event that was hosted at the St. Cloud Hospital. Also in November, Jackson’s story was featured in The Beautiful Minds Project, 30 Stories in 30 Days and we participated in a suicide survivors club story portrait workshop in Minneapolis, MN.
DECEMBER
We met with local legislators to discuss changes to Minnesota Health Records Act and participated in Angel of Hope candlelight vigil at the Sartell Community Center.
LOOKING TO 2020
We are looking forward to spreading more awareness for suicide prevention in 2020 through a number of events and fundraisers. Together with CentraCare, we will continue to share information about suicide prevention to help educate our community. Stay up to date by following our newsletter for more information on our partnership and to receive resources on suicide prevention and mental health.