Sticker sales by Student Veterans Association bring awareness to problem
Every day, 22 veterans commit suicide.
Navy veteran and psychology major Andie Gardner wants to change that by bringing awareness to their plight.
Gardner, with the help of the Student Veterans Association, came up with a sticker that students and staff can purchase.
“We want to raise awareness that suicide does exist and it’s prevalent in veterans that come back,” she said.
Gardner also hopes that this will help students who aren’t veterans assist those who are going through this hardship.
Gardner said part of what inspired her is that she has known veterans who have been going through this.
“I’ve had many friends that have been on the brink and I’ve seen those who committed suicide,” she said.
Seeing her fellow veteran friends, whom she calls her brothers, affected made her want to raise awareness for this frightening statistic among veterans.
The 4-inch by 4-inch stickers will be sold for $1 and the funds will go to the SVA, which hopes to offer the stickers in future years too.
“We want this to be continuous semester to semester. We don’t want this to stop. This a message that needs to keep going,” Gardner said.
Gardner added that the SVA plans to look into donating a percentage of funds raised to a veterans counseling center to help aid veterans dealing with suicide. She hopes the SVA will be able to make T-shirts with the same design as the sticker to help raise further awareness for everyone can wear.
The sticker is modeled with the number 22 symbolizing the statistic with two flaming bullets crossed together with the words “prevent” on top and “prevail” on the bottom. They are available for purchase at the Veterans Services Office on the second floor in the Harvin Center.
