By Melissa Stagnaro
Contributor

OXFORD – More than 100 golfers will take to the links Sunday at Oxford’s Blue Stone golf course to bring the conversation about suicide and mental illness out of the darkness and into the light.
It is the sixth year the course will host the event, Team Chenango’s Out of the Darkness Golf Tournament.
Changing the conversation about suicide and mental illness has become a personal mission for event organizer Danielle Marshman.
“Every year suicide claims more lives than war, murder and natural disasters combined, and yet we don’t talk about it,” she explained.
In a small town, she said, people are often even less willing to admit it’s something that can happen close to home. But Marshman, herself a survivor or suicide loss, knows it can.
In 2001 her father Dan, a prominent Oxford dairy farmer and businessman, took his own life.
“It has been 15 years since Dad died by suicide from a disease that can be prevented if we can just start talking about it,” she said.
It was a desire to prevent others from enduring a similar loss that lead Marshman to get involved with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), an organization she discovered as part of her own healing journey.
“AFSP is really the leader in the fight against suicide,” she said. “They fund research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, and support survivors of suicide loss. All with the goal of reducing the annual suicide rate 20 percent by 2025.”
Each year, AFSP raises money with community walks across the country. Their largest fundraiser is a dusk ‘til dawn walk called the Out of the Darkness Overnight.
Marshman walked in her first Overnight in Boston in 2010. This year’s event, to be held in June in New York City, will mark the seventh consecutive year she’s participated in the more than 16 mile overnight walk to end suicide.
She described the walk as an intense experience, filled with laughter, tears and moments of physical and emotional exhaustion. But it is also a time of healing and hope, she said.
“As you walk through the night, you feel safe and cared-for in a community where everyone supports each other,” she said.
It’s this type of atmosphere that Marshman and her Team Chenango teammates have tried to create with their annual golf tournament. The event is one of the ways they raise money to meet the walk’s fundraising requirements of $1,000 per person.
It wasn’t until last year, however, that they realized how much the tournament had come to mean to the community.
At the start of last year’s event, Marshman made the difficult announcement that it would be the tournament’s final year. Planning the fundraiser had gotten too much for her and the team, who she said were all stretched thin.
They never anticipated how participants would react to the news. Throughout the day Marshman had several people approach her and offer their help to keep the tournament going.
It wasn’t about the golf, of course, but the cause.
“I was so humbled by that moment. They weren’t saying they would help just to raise money – although of course that’s part of it. But for the awareness factor – for the memories of our loved ones and the camaraderie the tournament brings,” she said.
“That’s what this tournament is all about. Together we can change the conversation about mental health and put a stop to this tragic loss of life.”
Jerry LeClar is one of the community members who stepped up to help organize this year’s event. Like the members of Team Chenango, he’s witnessed and experienced the tragic impact suicide - and the mental health issues that are so often its root cause - can have on families and the community as a whole.
“I believe mental illness is the underlying cause for many of our societal problems – drugs, alcohol, guns, etc. – and it’s an illness that is misunderstood by so many that are not directly effected nor have had first hand experience,” he explained.
Knowing their efforts are having such an impact has reinvigorated Marshman and her teammates as they gear up for both the tournament and this year’s walk.
“We’ve walked over 700 miles and raised over $45,000 in the last 6 years,” Marshman said. “This year, we’ll pass the $50,000 mark.
Team Chenango is comprised of Marshman, Teresa Hollister, Brian Meade, David Emerson, Maggie Dorsey and Lori Olsen. They’ll need to raise at least $6,000 between the tournament and their other fundraising efforts in to walk in June.
With more than 25 teams pre-registered, they’re well on their way to that goal. But Marshman is still hoping that Sunday’s turnout will be even higher.
“There’s still room for more teams,” she said.
The tournament will be held Sunday, May 1 at Blue Stone Golf Course in Oxford. Registration begins at noon, with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The cost to participate is $35 for Blue Stone Members and $55 for non-members. Registration includes 18 holes of golf, cart rental and lunch.
There will also be a putting contest, Chenango-themed raffle baskets and a 50/50, Marshman said.
All community members are welcome at a ziti dinner immediately following the event. A free will donation will be accepted at the door.
For more information or to register, contact Danielle Marshman by phone at 343-6036 or via email at danielle.marshman@gmail.com. Teams can also register by calling Blue Stone at 843-8352.