BELLE FOURCHE—The Belle Fourche Lions Club held their first meeting of the fall on the evening of September 11. A special guest speaker was on hand to educate everyone on an upcoming event in the community.
Lee Capp, Lion Club member explained that the club meets twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays at Grap’s Burgers. The first meeting is always an educational meeting with the second meeting of the month being their business meeting. They don’t meet over the summer. Meetings start at 6 p.m. with a social hour.
Sonia Ribordy spoke about the upcoming Belle Fourche Out of the Darkness Walk that is scheduled for Saturday, September 20 at Herrmann Park beginning at 8:45 a.m. with registration at 8 a.m.
Ribordy shared the story of the loss of her oldest son Ryan in 2019 and how that tragedy catapulted her passion for helping and educating the public about mental health. In her research to find a way to help, she found the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Ribordy explained, “We need to do something here—when I looked it up there was nothing West River—everything was East River—Aberdeen, Huron, Sioux Falls. And so I said, let’s do this!”
The first Out of the Darkness Walk in Belle Fourche was one of the largest first year walks ever according to Ribordy, with approximately 256 people participating. She said, “I am so glad that there was so much support for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.”
That is the importance of the walk, connecting people for support and education. “The walk itself, the main thing is mental health awareness and just getting conversations started and support for people who have had a loss,” said Ribordy. “That way, the walk brings everybody together.”
If you want to participate in the Out of the Darkness Walk, it is suggested that you sign up online before the day of the walk to save time in the morning. “They try to get everybody to register— it’s totally free to participate in the event,” explained Ribordy. “It’s for head count too, so that we know how many people have walked with us. I think they had a million people walk, I mean, it’s incredible because there’re so many walks across the U.S.!”
The walk will be approximately two miles long. The route starts at Herrmann Park and loops around the baseball fields then down to National and on to the fire hall and ends back at the park. “I think it’s just a little over two miles for that. But the reason we moved it to Herrmann Park is so we have that one little path that is around there—some people the hills are really hard and stuff—it’s like, seven times around makes it about two miles. So that’s a pretty cool that way they can still participate,” said Ribordy.
Throughout the route there will be planned stops and stations for walkers to participate in if they want to. “Along the route we have a bubble gum station, and a rest and restore station. We added a station just right on the bridge, and it’s a little meditation area where you can release rose petals or pebbles—if your worries are really heavy, there are different activities along the way,” Ribordy shared. “We have the halfway point that is a water station just in case it’s hot that day and we do have a dog station.” Another station is the Hope Wall where walkers are encouraged to share a photo or anything they want to bring and add to it.
Members of the Lions club stood up at the end of Ribordy’s presentation and volunteered to help with the event. They discussed wearing their yellow Lions Club vests to be identified as helpers during the day.
All money raised during the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Walk will be distributed back to South Dakota to be used for research, programming, advocacy and support to those whose lives have been affected by suicide. More information can be found at AFSP/bellefourche.com.
Read the full issue of the Belle Fourche Beacon by clicking here.
