Submitted Photo Pictured is a group of participants from the inaugural Stop 22 Walk in Silver Creek last year.

SILVER CREEK — The Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Post 6472 in Silver Creek is holding its second annual Stop 22 Walk-A-Thon on Saturday, Oct. 22 to support veteran suicide prevention and awareness.

Registration for the walk begins at 9 on the morning of the event. The 22-minute walk begins at 10 a.m., and will start at the Silver Creek VFW Post on N. Main Street in the Village of Silver Creek. The route will head up Main Street and then back down to end back at the post.

The $1 registration cost for the event will benefit the Homeless Veterans Project to assist in suicide prevention and awareness.

Deana Borrello, VFW Auxiliary Post President, is in charge of organizing the event again this year, after her role to start the event a year ago. As the wife of a veteran and someone who has had suicide impact her own family, Borrello wanted to do what she could to help raise awareness in the community.

“I thought this is something I could do in our community,” Borrello said. “We did this last year and the community turned out tremendously.”

See WALK, Page A3

The VFW overseers at the state level highlight the month of October as a time to raise awareness for the issue of veteran suicide. According to states reporting veteran suicide rates, 22 veterans and one active duty soldier is lost every day to suicide. That figure is represented in the 22-minute walk.

“These veterans marched for us so we have the freedoms we have. So we’re asking anyone and everyone to come out if they can to show that we support them,” Borrello said.

Borrello hopes this event will continue for many years to come.