Department commander and other Legion Family members wore the Legion’s suicide prevention mission on shirts for one of the largest 10Ks in the United States.
American Legion Department of Louisiana Commander Angela Gomon has participated in one of the largest 10Ks in the United States for 30 years. She and Post 374 Commander Donna Smith decided to participate in this year’s Crescent City Classic in New Orleans on April 19 and create a departmentwide Legion Family team to walk or run in support of the Legion’s veteran suicide prevention mission – Be the One.
The Legion Family members who participated wore an American Legion branded shirt with “Be the One, Save a Life, Dial 988 for the Suicide/Crisis Hotline” on the back.
“I was very happy to have the team we had,” Gomon said, adding that with the shirts, she “didn't want to put just veterans (on the back) because one of the things that is imperative when you're talking about suicide is that you address not only our veterans but the community. And that is part of our goal. As Legionnaires, we support our community.”
Gomon garnered support for race participation by creating a flyer that she shared on her personal Instagram and Facebook social media pages, and through department communication. Suicide prevention has always been important to Gomon, but it became even more so when she recently lost a dear friend to it.
“I lost somebody very close this year. Nobody knew his struggle,” she said. “All of a sudden you wake up and you hear one of the guys you grew up with, went to school with, went to high school with, has committed suicide. He was a veteran. It really hit me hard because I was like, ‘OK, we're not doing enough. We're just not doing enough.’”
The opportunity to do more by getting in front of a crowd of over 18,000 runners and walkers for the Crescent City Classic was Gomon’s chance to share the mission of Be the One and do her part to save a life.
“I'm very hyper aware of the mission to get the Legion out in the community in any way, shape or form that I can to get the American Legion noticed and put out in the community, I'm going to do it,” said Gomon, the Department of Louisiana’s first female commander. “I really love (Past National) Commander Daniel Seehafer for his Be the One to change a life and save a life message because it matters.
“I tell people all the time, don’t just talk about Be the One, show what Be the One is. Ask someone, ‘Hey, you doing OK today?’ Put your hand on their shoulder or reach out. Human touch sometimes can really be effective and just say, ‘I'm here if you need me.’ It’s so imperative that if you're not seeing somebody or hearing from somebody, you need to reach out. I’m super hyper aware of it more so now than ever.”
Gomon’s American Legion Post 350 in Metairie started a coffee and donuts meetup twice a month at the post for veterans, their families and community members. She said veterans have shared with her that getting out of the house for a few hours a month has been beneficial for their mental health.
“That’s part of the problem with suicide is that people isolate themselves,” she said. “They don't have purpose, and people who have purpose succeed. If you give somebody purpose, even if it's for two hours twice a month, that's better than no purpose at all.
“I think every veteran struggles mentally, and you have to be able to say, ‘I'm having a bad mental day. I need to talk.’ And we need to create that space for people to be able to share. All it is, is listening. They feel better once they have somebody that can just listen, not tell them what to do, but to just hear them and see them and validate them and let them feel like they're heard. And that's important.”
- Be the One