Cozad natives hope to ‘scatter kindness’
The North Platte Telegraph
Two suicides in less than three months rocked the worlds of a group of friends from Cozad. Now, they are using the experience to turn something negative into something positive.
Doane college student Jason Luong is the president of Scatter Kindness Clothing, a project through which T-shirts are sold to raise awareness about depression and suicide.
Joining him in the endeavor are University of Nebraska at Kearney students, Allison Kuklis, Tyler Branstiter and Joe Jasper. Luong, Kuklis and Branstiter are originally from Cozad and Jasper is from Columbus. All were friends of two Cozad men who committed suicide last year.
”It was devastating,” stated Luong. “Within three months, we lost two really great guys – both of whom could liven up a room. People were guaranteed to have a good laugh when they were around them.”
As part of a high school project, Luong had helped to create a website featuring humorous YouTube videos.
”It was called Scatter Kindness Productions, and the purpose of it was just to make people laugh,” stated Luong. “After the suicides, I decided to try to spread the message that depression and suicide are major problems in this world. For my project, I took the website name and changed it to Scatter Kindness Clothing.”
For every T-shirt sold, $1 is donated to the Ganley Foundation, a nonprofit organization that educates youth and their parents about the signs of depression and challenges the stigmas that can prevent intervention and treatment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second leading cause of death among 25-34 year olds and the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds.
”In today’s society, people are expected to excel, and they have so many pressures from the outside world,” stated Luong. “It can be hard on them, especially when they are going through high school and college where children pick on other kids. People do not always realize it, but the things they say, whether they are joking or not, can affect feelings.”
He stated the inability to cope with pressures can lead to dire consequences.
”We’re trying to make people conscious of their actions,” he said. “We’re hoping the clothing will serve as a reminder to be kind.”
Awareness about the T-shirts has spread through word-of-mouth and through an SKC Facebook page. The shirts are also being sold at Drive-In Videos in Cozad.
”We’ve seen a ton of support, and I can see us growing exponentially in the next year,” stated Luong. “We’ve sold over 500 shirts in the three months that we have been doing it – which is $500 that can be donated to the Ganley Foundation.”
More source:
Brian Scroggin | FacebookNebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days, Vol. VII
Conowago Colony, Pa
THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF CLEVELAND
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Submited at Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 at 1:00 am on Uncategorized by chuck
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