In This Issue
A note from Roberta
5K Registration is open
Focus Group Members wanted
Strategic changes at Samaritans
Community Happenings
 
"Voices of Samaritans"
  
Robert McGuiness
Grief Support Services PSA
"A Sense of Peace"
 
SenseOfPeace
   
  
Dosie's Team 
2013 5K PSA
"We're all connected"
  Samaritans 5K - A Great Day to Be Alive!
  
  
Join Us in 2013!
  
First Tuesday of each month
Amherst, MA
  
*
Saturday, June 8th
Watch for Happier Boston at
  
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  Friday, June 14th
Suicide Prevention and Resilience among New Bostonians Conference
Register by June 7th.
  
*
Monday, June 17th
We are looking for family members of suicide attempt survivors to discuss potential service expansion. Email Emily Britt for more information. 
  
  Saturday, September 28th
A great day to be alive!
Registration is open

 

  
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Samaritans
41 West St., 4th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02111

  

Roberta HurtigEarly summer is always a time of transition and reflection for Samaritans. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th, and this is the time that we review the past year and set our annual budget and service goals for the coming year. This is also the time that we start gearing up for our annual 5K Run/Walk, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. We are also beginning to look ahead to 2014, in which we will mark the 40th year that Samaritans has been offering suicide prevention services in Massachusetts. For forty years, Samaritans staff and volunteers have provided kindness and compassion to those who are struggling. Our presence makes the communities of Boston and MetroWest a happier and healthier place to live, and our commitment is to ensure that our organization remains strong and available for all those who need our services.

 

This has been a particularly poignant early summer at Samaritans as we have undertaken a major restructure of our organization (see article below). Change is hard, but Samaritans is a strong and resilient community. We have been grateful for the support and understanding of so many of our volunteers and donors over the past several days, and we are optimistic about the future of Samaritans and our ability to serve even more people in need in the future.

 

Roberta's signature  

Roberta Hurtig
Executive Director
5K blue bib
The 5K turns 15!
More than 7,000 participants have walked or "run for someone else's life" since the inaugural Samaritans 5K back in 1999. Thanks to the overwhelming support and passion for this cause, the success of the 5K over the years has helped Samaritans to serve thousands of people who are struggling in the Greater Boston and MetroWest communities through our 24/7 helplines, our Community Education and Outreach workshops and our Grief Support Services.

  

ed and amy 
Long time co-chairs Amy Black and Ed Hoell

We appreciate the thousands of people who have contributed to the 5K during these memorable years. We are grateful that the vision of former Development Director Jessie Dill, and former board member Sandy Shapiro, who founded the event back in 1999. We are indebted to our long-time co-chairs Ed Hoell and Amy Black, who shepherded the event as it grew into the largest suicide prevention walk in Massachusetts and one of the only suicide prevention sanctioned 5K runs in the country. We celebrate the hundreds of teams and individuals who have participated in memory of a loved one. Thank you for the donations you have collected, for the awareness you have generated and for the miles you have logged - all in the name of local suicide prevention.

 

View our new 5K PSA
View our new 5K PSA

As we look to the future, we welcome back Amy Black and her new co-chair Joe Shapiro as we gear up for this year's event on Saturday, September 28th at DCR's Artesani Park in Brighton. Help us to make the next 15 years as unforgettable as the last. Whether you're new to the 5K or you've been going since its inception, we hope that you decide to join us this fall. Registration is already open online! Please consider getting involved today:

 

run or walk button 

 

Volunteer 5K 

focus groupPlease help: Focus group participants wanted

Samaritans, Riverside Trauma Center, and the Department of Public Health's Suicide Prevention Program are collaborating on the development of services for people who have had a loved one attempt suicide and survive. We are hosting a focus group with family members of suicide attempt survivors to learn how to best serve them as they support their loved ones.

 

Please pass this information on to anyone who may be interested in reflecting on their own experience and what services might have been helpful to them and their families. Participants must be 18 years of age or older. The focus group will take place on June 17, 2013 in Wellesley from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. Participants' input will be used to develop the structure, context, and content of future support groups as one service option, as well as identify other services that might be helpful.

 

Those interested in participating in this one-time focus group should reply to Emily Britt at ebritt@samaritanshope.org with a name, email address and phone number by June 14th.

Strategic changes at Samaritans

Samaritans is committed to continuing to offer and increase our life-saving services to the communities of Greater Boston and MetroWest. We can be successful if we ensure the long-term financial health of our organization, so that we can make investments in key areas that will promote future growth. To achieve this long-term strategy, Samaritans' board of directors decided on a major re-organization of Samaritans' program operations, including closing the Framingham office, eliminating the jobs based out of that office, as well as the Youth Services Manager position, and consolidating the delivery of services within the Boston office.

 

This decision, while difficult for our community, ensures that the organization will continue to provide the same level of services to the Greater Boston and MetroWest communities in the short-term, and will position Samaritans to expand services in the long-term.

 

The public can continue to reach out to Samaritans, Inc. as they have in the past. Calls to all of the agency's helpline numbers, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Statewide Samaritans Toll-free Helpline, and the MetroWest and Boston helplines, as well as online chats, will continue to be answered by trained Samaritans volunteers. Volunteers from both locations will continue to have the opportunity to provide service from the Boston office. All of our Grief Support Services, including the Framingham SafePlace group (new location to TBD), and our Community Education and Outreach services will continue to be offered. Please check out our website for updates and information.

 

Samaritans has been supporting greater Boston and MetroWest for more than 39 years - making our communities a happier and healthier place to live. As we enter the year of our 40th anniversary, Samaritans is taking the steps necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our life-saving services.
Community Happenings 
On June 14th, It takes a village conferencethe Department of Public Health is hosting a one-day conference for Greater Boston area mental health and public health professionals and clinicians, community health workers, educators, researchers, social workers, veterans' service providers, clergy, and others interested in sharing strategies relevant to resilience and suicide. If you would like to attend, please register online by the end of today, June 7th.
  
Samaritans Happier Boston volunteers love this season of community parades.

We were delighted to participate in a very hot Dorchester Day's Parade on Saturday, June 1st, and look for us tomorrow at the Boston Pride Parade.