Suicide Prevention Movement Gains Traction

Hi all!

A little less than a year ago, I interviewed Emily Dayton, who began a suicide prevention movement with her parents known as You Can NOT Be Replaced. At the time of the interview, they had over 14,000 wristbands from their movement circulating across the country, spoke at school assemblies, etc. Now that their movement is growing, they have been doing even more for this cause and have been kind enough to provide us all with an update! Check out their guest post below:

Hey Christine and peeps!

We have had so much great stuff happen this year! We have given our assembly in Jr High and High schools in New Jersey to about 10,000 students! What an amazing ride and an honor to have a moment in front of a large group of school kids for an hour with the opportunity to reach that one kid in the audience who doesn’t know how valuable they are. We now have over 23,000 wristbands circulating the USA, UK, Canada and UK. It is a privilege to do what we do.

You Can NOT Be Replaced just had a really cool concert with musician Will Evans from Barefoot Truth (willevans.com) that was a fundraiser and story telling concert. We paired the night with a local band called Chevy Lopez and film interviews we did in the spring with some local young adults. The topic for our Step Back or a Moment concert was Heroin: reality|recovery|hope. Heroin is a huge issue in New Jersey and we felt that stories were a great way to start conversations. But in YCNBR fashion, we focused on the hope. Recovery is possible with structured support, as well as hard work and we wanted people to remember that so we can help our loved ones who are having a hard time. It was a beautiful night. Then we had an “AH-HA” moment.

We’ve decided to take YCNBR on the road to Colleges and Universities, work with the students to put on a really cool event with awesome musicians and films on various topics. We’ll use topics like finding your passion and purpose, kindness, mental health and substance abuse, and bring in some great musicians. We’re going to bring our speakers the day before, have an art show, music, film and then…create chapters on campus to create a grassroots culture shift toward awesomeness!

The very best part is that the shows are going to be fundraisers for our high school program. So when students buy a ticket, they’re actually funding our assemblies so we don’t have to charge schools: http://bit.ly/YCNBRstepback!

If you are interested in bringing us to your campus email us at youcannotbereplaced@gmail.com

Next up for us is: The Color Run Kaleidoscope Tour in Central Jersey on August 30^th at Raceway Park. We are soooo excited we are the official charity partner for the race. EVERYONE can do this race! It’s a bucket-list-life-changing event of fun, music and color. Sign up now before it sells out or come volunteer with us for the day! We’ll also have an opportunity to meet you and hear your story! We’ll have wristbands and info with us too: http://bit.ly/YCNBRcolor.

Below is a press release for the color run:

The “Happiest 5k on the Planet” plans for Thousands in August

Englishtown, NJ – The Color Run, one of the largest event series in the world, will be in Englishtown, NJ. The event will be held at Raceway Park and will begin at 8 am. Registration is open for individual runners and teams.

In 2014 The Color Run is introducing the brand new Kaleidoscope Tour. Kaleidoscopes demonstrate the beauty of motion and change. Whether it’s new runners getting ready for their first 5k, or seasoned athletes remembering what it feels like to just run for fun, the Kaleidoscope Tour will be an unforgettable event that will be filled with 5k magic. Participants can expect novel course attractions, fresh participant gear and new store merchandise.

Participation in, and buzz for, The Color Run has exploded since its debut in 2012 with more than 3 million “likes” on Facebook and more than 8 million views on YouTube. The Color Run has recently been featured on ESPN, Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated and Wall Street Journal, to name a few.

The Color Run visited over 50 cities in 2012 with more than 600,000 participants, a feat following their first event in January of that year. 2013 was a monumental year, launching more than 170 events worldwide with well over 1 million participants.

With no winners or official times, The Color Run celebrates healthiness, happiness, and individuality, bringing the community together to create a five-kilometer canvas of colorful fun in which thousands of participants are doused from head to toe in different colors at each kilometer.

“We call The Color Run the ‘happiest 5K on the planet’ because our events bring together friends and family in a unique, healthy, and fun environment,” said Travis Snyder, founder of The Color Run. “Our only rules are that people wear white and prepare to be covered in color at the finish!”

“Color Runners,” vary in demographics and reasons for running. With no winners or official times, The Color Run caters to anyone – first time runners to professional athletes. Close to 50 percent of Color Runners are first-time 5k runners and participate as a celebration and capstone of their healthy living accomplishments.

The Color Run, a for-profit company, loves the opportunity it has to partner with charities to help shine a light on their amazing work within society and highlight the causes they stand for. The Color Run has partnered with You Can NOT Be Replaced® for the Central Jersey event. YCNBR provides ‘proactive prevention’ through school presentations and parenting workshops focusing on the value of life including; science of the irreplaceable person, mental health, substance use, the brain and the importance of family and good friendships. The group contributes to prevention work in their community and work with other organizations educating on substance prevention and mental health awareness.

To learn more about The Color Run, visit www.thecolorrun.com or watch this video.

To check out what we’re doing go to www.youcannotbereplaced.com or www.YCNBRtalk.com for our assembly program