Seven months have passed since her passing but Sam Wopat’s memories in the hearts of people close to her remain strong.
One of Sam’s friends & former club teammate, Paige Craine, is organizing a benefit walk for her dear friend on November 3rd in Santa Barbara, California. Through the Out of the Darkness Community Walk, Paige aims to increase awareness about depression and suicide, to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to honor Sam.
The 3- to 5-mile walk is set for Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8 a.m., at Leadbetter Beach. Registration for the event is free and can be done at AFSP.org. Craine welcomes anyone who would like to join her Team Alohilani, but anyone can register either individually or as a team.
Paige Says…
“My main motivation is keeping Sam’s spirit alive. This was a sudden and unexpected tragedy in everyone’s lives and I not only feel strongly about being educated but also about others being educated when it comes to suicide and mental awareness. I aim to bring the topic of suicide out of the darkness, changing it from being categorized as a hushed issue into a knowledgable topic of everyday life.
“We went through six years of school together, into high school, and were never apart. We were so close and always together that we were even sometimes confused as triplets in junior high … until they grew, of course.
If I had to hold onto one memory of (Sam) I would remember her laugh. It was wild and free spirited. It had the ability to make me feel alive and will always be a piece of me.”
On organizing the benefit walk:
“I felt strongly about bringing this event to Santa Barbara.
I wanted to be able to participate in something that could make a difference in many people’s lives. This is one of the ways my friends and I have found to make a difference and begin to heal as we bring this topic to the forefront of conversation.”
I am a part of SBRN; it is a psychological trauma response team in Santa Barbara, and now in Santa Maria, for tragedies in the community — mostly suicides. They respond when they are called or asked for and provide psychological first aid to those affected by a tragic situation.
No one expected this tragedy to touch our lives. I have learned that there is a choice when tragedy comes. You cannot control the tragedy but you can control what happens afterwards. You can either sit with it and be sad or you can use it as a catalyst for something greater. There is always a little bit of both.
However, I want to keep Samantha’s memory alive.
I have learned many new things about mental illness and suicide along this journey that I did not know before. The main lesson: suicide can be prevented if people are given the right knowledge. Therefore it has become my goal to bring information to people and encourage them not hide pain or fear about this hushed topic. More people die from suicide each year than from car accidents. To me that is shocking and should not be a fact or study to begin with.
I will be 20 in November. I would never have thought I would be dealing with losing someone I love so much so soon. When I used to imagine my future, Sam was always going to be a big part of it. She still will be, just in a slightly different way.”
Together with her team, Paige invites everyone to register as a team or as an individual and unite to walk with a purpose. Her former club team, Santa Barbara Volleyball Club, and the Santa Barbara Response Network (SBRN) are supporting Paige as well together with other supporters from Santa Barbara.
In case you didn’t know, Sam’s twin sister Carly together with Stanford teammate Karissa Cook participated in the same event a few months ago. Carly recorded her journey
Watch This:
Out of the Darkness from Carly Wopat on Vimeo.
OUT OF THE DARKNESS WALK
Date and Time: Nov. 3, from 8 a.m to about noon
Where: Leadbetter Beach
Free Registration: AFSP.org
What: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is at the forefront of suicide prevention and mental illness awareness. The Out of the Darkness Walks were created to bring more awareness to communities while also helping the foundations mission of understanding and preventing suicide, education, and reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide. The walk in Santa Barbara is a 3-5 miles.
We miss you Sam!
(source: presidiosports.com)