When the Hope for B.E.S.T. K-9 Walk debuted last year at Veterans Memorial Park, 3701 Veterans Memorial Parkway in Avon, event organizer Lori Yeager said she was overwhelmed by community support.
Following her brother Dan Best’s death by suicide in 2018, Yeager felt she had to do something to raise awareness.
In 2021, she wrote a book entitled “By All Means… JUST SAY IT,” and then formed an organization called The Hope For B.E.S.T. (Be the End to Silent Thoughts).
The Hope For B.E.S.T. project was about much more than just suicide, Yeager said, and she quickly branched out into other areas of mental health awareness.
“We were completely shocked; blindsided,” she said. “We were basically like, ‘What the hell just happened, and why?’
“I never got angry … I truly, truly believe in my heart of hearts that suicide is a mental state that took him. (It’s) no different than somebody who is an addict or somebody who has an eating disorder.”
Finally, Yeager brought the Avon community together for the first Hope For B.E.S.T. K-9 Walk last October.
The goal, above all else, was to help raise awareness for mental health in local schools, she said.
“I wanted to focus on all of mental health because right now, there’s so much out there,” Yeager said. “The kids are confused. They don’t know what’s going on. They’re struggling.”
The one-mile leisure walk in 2022 featured various businesses and dogs from around Avon, she said.
Thanks to the support, Yeager was able to donate $5,000 to Avon Local School District to help raise awareness for mental health.
“We raise funds basically through registration,” she said. “And then, it’s through all these donations (from local businesses).”
Yeager said mental health problems do not discriminate by age, race or gender.
She mentioned that wherever she goes to bring attention to the walk, she finds people who have been affected by mental health problems.
“It was actually amazing,” Yeager said of the community support. “(Last year), I had almost 60 companies in Avon, all willing to donate.
“Nine times out of 10, every location that I go to, whether it’s Two Bucks, whether it’s Planet Fitness, it doesn’t matter where it is, somebody shares with me a story.”
The walk will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 24.
Yeager said she hopes to make it an annual event.
Registration is $25, and now is open at runsignup.com.
“We all have issues,” Yeager said. “So, why are we judging?
“Why are we putting a stigma? Why are we not helping one another, and bringing more awareness? I just personally feel that we have to get to our kids.”
