“Healing Hearts” Walk/Run for Suicide Prevention (Oakland)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Crisis Support Services of Alameda County (CSS) will be holding our family-friendly Healing Hearts Walk/Run for Suicide Prevention on Saturday, May 6 at the athletic field at Laney College in Oakland starting at 9:00 a.m.  The Walk/Run is 1-mile around the track with medals for the top finishers.  All abilities are welcome.

The Healing Hearts event will also feature a Health and Wellness Fair with many mental health, health and wellness organizations providing information about their services available.

This fundraising event helps support our 24-hour crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline and other critical mental health services through-out the county.  As Alameda County’s 988 center, CSS has experienced a 50% increase in calls since the launch of the number in July.

CSS Executive Director, Narges Dillon, said “The hope is to create a sense of ‘you are not alone’ for others in our community who have lost loved ones to suicide or have struggled themselves. There is tremendous stigma-reducing power to public events.”

Various teams of fast runners, slow runners and walkers will complete four laps around the track for a 1-mile course with medals for the top finishers The event will be timed by Aaron Ford Timing and the results posted on runsignup.com.  We welcome families and strollers and people of all abilities but please no pets. 

In order to encourage our community to connect and support each other, we are using a “pay what you can” model with a suggested donation of $35 — but we welcome any amount of support from participants.

Why is this important? Given this unprecedented time, when more people are feeling isolated, it’s important that we find ways to connect to and support each other and stay active. We hope you join us to support our cause and each other.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.