NEWELL—The monthly meeting of the Whatever It Takes Coalition (WIT) took place at the Newell Christian Fellowship Community Hall on Tuesday, February 10.
Sabrina Harmon, WIT Director, welcomed everyone to the meeting. “We’re actually a prevention and education coalition, and we try to do anything in the community to help educate or make it a better place for them,” she said.
The meeting presentation was given by Jody Smith, Community Engagement Coordinator with the Black Hills Health Care Systems, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She said, “Thank you to Sabrina for having us all get together, because there’s nothing like a good night to get a bunch of veterans together in one room!”
Smith spent the evening discussing ways to help veterans. Her program focused on combining community and clinical interventions for suicide prevention. “I want to minimize risks in our community so we can help veterans, one on one,” she said. “When we have one suicide in our community, it affects 135 people.” She then went on to explain how one death affects the family, friends, church members, coffee groups, neighbors, and anyone that person comes in contact with on a regular basis. And in turn, those people may become sad, depressed, anxious, start drinking, and end up going down the same road.
Developing a safety plan is important to success in stressful situations. Smith told everyone about the mobile app called Safety Plan. The app is free and confidential. It is designed for anyone who has had thoughts of self-harm. The app “helps you make a step-by-step action plan to keep yourself safe during a crisis, share your plan with loved ones, and use tools to manage distress.”
Safety Plan is an app that allows you to use it on your own. “So say I’m having a horrible day, I’m depressed, I want to isolate—who’s the first person I’m going to call on that safety plan,” said Smith. “I’m going to call my mom—mom had a really horrible day or I just lost my dad—I need to talk to somebody—if that doesn’t turn it around, your safety plan is going to be on there. It’s going to give you, like, three other people you trust, maybe some guys you’re in American Legion with, or the VFW.”
Another resource that Smith discussed was calling 988. “So that’s our Veterans Crisis Line, but anybody can call 988.”
In the month of January 2026, in Butte County, 20 people called 988. “Okay, look around, that’s like everybody in this room, 20. So that’s just in one month—you have 20 people out here in Butte County that need services, that need help,” said Smith.
Another number that was discussed during the evening was 211. “Call 211, it’s everything you need. Need health care? You need help finding somebody to help take care of your kids? You are a shut-in? You don’t drive and you don’t have enough food in your home? You need help? Call 211 and there’s going to be somebody in the community, or somebody from Rapid City or a church, that is going to reach out to you and get you what you need,” explained Smith.
Smith shared that communities working together with the VA play a critical role in preventing veteran suicide.
Local veterans Kevin Groves and Pastor Lance Putnam took a few moments to address the group. They gathered information regarding interest in coalition building. “If you’re interested in getting together to do something—then we’ll kind of have a coalition to start with, to start getting some phone numbers together, some people together. And just take this from a brainstorming view at this point in time,” explained Groves.
Putnam added, “The other thing we were talking about is just having events for veterans to get together—I know we’ve gone fishing a number of times out here on the reservoir or we’re going to go out shooting today on Kevin’s ranch, anybody want to come out and just hang out with each other?”
They both agreed that they don’t have all of the answers at this point but want to grow the coalition with others who are interested so they can work together to minimize risks in the community.
A dinner of soups and sandwiches was offered to those in attendance along with a variety of pies for dessert. Drinks were also provided.
The next monthly meeting of the WIT Coalition will take place at 11:30 a.m. on March 12 at the NCF Community Hall. The topic will be updated drug overdose information. Free lunch will be provided and all are welcome to attend.
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