The 103 Club

 

She came to my door. She sat on my couch. She said,
"I don't want to live anymore. I want to be with my Mom and her brother in Heaven. Everything hurts." Who was I to ask her to stay? What could I do to stop her?

 

I was grabbing at straws. "Let's live to be 103. Let's grow old and grey. Please, just stay."

 

I told her her kids need her. That the world needs her. I need her.

 

She paused. That's all I was really asking for. I just needed her to pause.

 

I've volunteered for Suicide Prevention Services of America since 1996. I was a phone hotline volunteer. The common thread with every call seems to be isolation, disconnection and depression. What can we do to change that?

 

What if we can get people to connect to an idea? A Club? A concept of something to unify anyone who wants to be a part of it?

 

Inclusive to All. Members are world wide. Anyone can join but they must agree to try to live to be 103.

 

That's really what we began on my couch that day. "The 103 Club." She agreed to be the very first member.

 

If you can vow to stay, to live, to vow to try to live to be 103, you can be a member. It's a simple way of saying you will not take your life. That suicide is not an option.

 

Depression happens. The darkness can slip in and make you feel completely hopeless.

 

But what if you made a pact and commitment to someone that you would push through it and live?

 

A community of members that, like you, took an oath to be in the 103 Club? Maybe that would make you pause in your dark moment.

 

It can begin with your family or your best friend. You can make a mutual agreement among each other that no matter what life throws at you, you are a member of the 103 Club and YOU WILL STAY AND LIVE. No matter what.

 

The Club is very real. The concept is sacred.

 

Once a suicide occurs in a family, it becomes an option. It's silent permission among the rest of the family members.

 

In my family, we lost my Grandma to suicide. My mom and I both agreed to be members of the 103 Club. We have agreed that suicide is not an option for either of us.

 

On May 29, 2015, my mom and I confirmed our commitment to the 103 Club with matching tattoos with 103 in them.

 

The contract is invisible. It's one that gets written on your heart. It's a promise. You agree to stay and live.

 

Will you join the 103 Club? Will you agree to stay?

 

SUBMIT A PHOTO TO OUR 103 PHOTO GALLERY. 

Post a 103 photo to our SPS Facebook page: 

POST YOUR PHOTO AS A COMMENT, HERE.

Photos will be uploaded to the album, monthly.