T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA The Williams family, creators and organizers of Jerry’s Walk, pictured from left includes Cindy Williams, daughter of Jerry Williams; Jeanette Williams, widow of Jerry Williams; and Sandy Williams, daughter of Jerry Williams.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The 8th annual Jerry’s Walk was deemed a great success.

Jerry Williams died of suicide 13 years ago, and his daughters Sandy and Cindy and his widow Jeanette started the walk eight years ago to help bring awareness to suicide prevention in people of all ages, but especially in older individuals.

According to the American Association of Retired Persons, more than half of all deaths by suicide are by people who are 45 years old or older. The Williams family hopes to end the stigma around suicide by offering resources to the community as well as trying to help people understand that mental health and physical health should be treated as equally important.

“My family decided that we wanted to do this to raise awareness and provide support to people who are either struggling or like us has lost somebody to suicide,” event organizer Sandy Williams said.

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and Sandy said it was the perfect time to choose to do the walk because her father died in April.

Along with the walk, the event also had a chance auction in which attendees were able to buy a ticket for a chance to win each item. All of the money raised from the auction goes toward being able to fund the event, as well as being able to put on multiple other walks.

“We are a family organization so nobody gets paid, everybody working here today is a volunteer. All of the money that is raised comes back into the Ohio Valley, that’s what we’re all about,”

Sandy said.

Jerry’s Walk had multiple sponsors including the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and Jim and Lisa Osborne. The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Belmont, Harrison and Monroe Counties and WVU Medicine were the Pavilion sponsors. Walk sponsors were Kroger, Toothman Funeral Home, Wheeling Nailers Booster Club, National Alliance of Mental Illness, Belmont Savings Bank and the Rotary Club of St. Clairsville. Coleraine Golf Carts and Lee Associates certified public accountants were both supporters of the event.

In 2023 the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation based in Columbus created a

grant in Jerry Williams’ name called the Jerry Williams Memorial Fund for $50,000. The grant is geared toward suicide prevention in older adults. Applicants may include Ohio-based suicide prevention organizations, programs, services and efforts targeting the older population. Interested applicants can apply for the grant at jerryswalk.org. Jerry’s Walk is currently using the original 2023 grant money to do a project with OhioHealth in Columbus to attempt to train physicians and their staffs to be able to recognize the signs of suicidal thoughts in older adults. “That project will be ending in June, and we’re hoping to be able to package that and make it portable,” Sandy Williams said.