Out of the Darkness (Community and Overnight Walks)

Last updated June 21, 2024

The Out of the Darkness Community and Overnight walks benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) by raising awareness on suicide and depression, raising money for research and education to prevent suicide from taking place, and providing assistance and a safe outlet for survivors of suicide. There are more than 30,000 suicide deaths in the United States each year. Ninety percent of those who die by suicide could have benefited from mental assistance. Someone in the U.S. dies by suicide every 16 minutes.^[1] Over $850K has been raised to date for the cause of suicide prevention and education by the AFSP through the Out of the Darkness program. The Community Walks are typically 5k (3.10 miles).

In addition to the Community Walks, there is also an Overnight Walk, which is held in one host city each year after a number of years being in multiple locations. In 2008, the walks were held in Seattle and New York, starting at 8pm and beginning to close at 5am. The Overnight, as it is called, is 20 miles.^[2]

There were 105 communities around the United States hosting Community Walks in 2007.

List of 2007 Community Walks:

Alabama	Birmingham	Heardmont Park	9/29/2007
California	Los Angeles	Santa Monica Third Street Promenade	10/7/2007
	San Diego	NTC Promenade in Liberty Station-Point Loma	9/15/2007
	San Francisco	Crissy Field	9/29/2007
	Yreka	Wal-Mart Parking Lot	9/8/2007
Colorado	Denver	Sloan's Lake Park	10/21/2007
Connecticut	Fairfield/Westport	Sherwood Island State Park	9/30/2007
Connecticut	West Hartford	MDC Reservoir	10/14/2007
Delaware	Dover	Silver Lake	10/20/2007
District of Columbia	Washington	C & O Canal	9/22/2007
Florida	Boca Raton	Patch Reef Park	10/14/2007
	Jacksonville	Jacksonville Beach	10/27/2007
	Miami	Tropical Park	10/27/2007
	Sarasota	Siesta Key Beach	10/28/2007
	Tampa Bay Area	Clearwater Beach	11/17/2007
Georgia	Atlanta	Piedmont Park	10/28/2007
	Warner Robins	Cohen Walker Drive	10/14/2007
	Winder/Barrow County	Fort Yargo State Park	9/1/2007
Illinois	Bloomington/Normal	Colene Hoose School	10/20/2007
Illinois	Chicago	Busse Woods	9/29/2007
Indiana	Benton County	Fowler Town Park	9/16/2007
Indiana	Indianapolis	Indianapolis Downtown Canal	9/22/2007
Iowa	Des Moines	Gray's Lake	9/23/2007
Iowa	Mason City	Southbridge Mall	10/6/2007
Kentucky	Argillite	Greenbo State Park	10/20/2007
Kentucky	Louisville	Seneca Park	11/3/2007
Louisiana	Lafayette	Downtown Lafayette	9/15/2007
Maine	Bangor	Hayford Park	9/30/2007
	Houlton	Historic Downtown Houlton	9/22/2007
	Portland	Baxter Boulevard Back Cove Trail	9/9/2007
Maryland	Baltimore (SPEAK/AFSP)	Baltimore & Annapolis Trail	10/13/2007
	Brunswick	C & O Canal National Historical Park	10/20/2007
	Montgomery County (SPEAK/AFSP)	Great Falls Carderock	10/6/2007
Massachusetts	Boston/Brighton	Artensani Park	10/13/2007
Massachusetts	Springfield	Jewish Community Center	10/7/2007
Michigan	Ann Arbor	Pioneer High School	9/16/2007
	Grand Rapids	Millennium Park	10/6/2007
	Kalamazoo/Battle Creek	Fell Park	10/13/2007
	Lansing	Potters Park	9/15/2007
	Metro Detroit/Macomb County	Metro Beach Park	9/30/2007
	Metro Detroit/Oakland County	Metro Beach Park	9/30/2007
	Metro Detroit/Oakland County	Kensington Park	10/7/2007
Minnesota	St. Paul	Como Park	9/16/2007
Missouri	Kansas City	Shawnee Mission Park in Shawnee, Kansas	9/30/2007
Missouri	St. Louis	Forest Park	11/4/2007
Montana	Billings	Veterans Park	10/7/2007
Montana	Kalispell	Depot Park	9/29/2007
Nebraska	Omaha	Miller's Landing Park/Riverwalk Trail	9/16/2007
Nevada	Las Vegas	Lorenzi Park	11/10/2007
New Hampshire	Hanover/Lebanon	Dartmouth College	11/4/2007
New Hampshire	Portsmouth	Prescott Park	9/29/2007
New Jersey	Atlantic County	Oscar E. McClinton Waterfront Park	8/18/2007
	Bridgewater	Duke Island Park	7/29/2007
	New Brunswick	Buccleuch Park	10/14/2007
New York	Buffalo	South Park	9/30/2007
	Capital Region (Walk for Rita)	Saratoga Race Course	9/16/2007
	Catskill	Catskill Elks Club	10/7/2007
	Fredonia	SUNY Fredonia Campus	10/6/2007
	Long Island	Old Westbury Gardens	9/30/2007
	Manhattan	Hudson River Park	9/23/2007
	Potsdam	SUNY Potsdam Campus - Campus Union	11/3/2007
	Rochester	Genesee Valley Park	10/13/2007
	Staten Island	Clove Lake Park	10/14/2007
	Syracuse	Beaver Lake Nature Center	10/7/2007
	Watertown	General Brown High School	9/9/2007
	Westchester County	Croton Point Park	10/7/2007
North Carolina	Carrboro	Town Commons	11/4/2007
	Charlotte	Freedom Park	9/15/2007
	Winston-Salem	Tanglewood Park	9/22/2007
North Dakota	Fargo	Island Park Gazebo	9/30/2007
Ohio	Cincinnati	Ault Park	10/14/2007
	Cleveland Metro Area	Lake Metropark Farmpark in Kirtland	10/20/2007
	Columbus	Fred Beekman Park	9/9/2007
	Greenville	Greenville City Park	9/22/2007
	Lima	The Rotary Riverwalk	10/13/2007
	Piqua	Edison Community College	9/29/2007
	Toledo	University of Toledo - University Trail	9/29/2007
	Wood County	Downtown Bowling Green	10/7/2007
Oregon	Portland	World Trade Center Portland	10/20/2007
Pennsylvania	Allentown	Lehigh Parkway	10/14/2007
	Brodheadsville/Poconos	Chestnut Hill Township Park	8/25/2007
	Harrisburg	City Island & Riverfront Park	9/29/2007
	Lancaster	Millersville University Track	10/20/2007
	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Museum of Art	10/7/2007
	Pittsburgh	McCandless Pavilion-North Park	9/22/2007
	Wilkes-Barre	Kirby Park	9/16/2007
Rhode Island	Providence	Waterplace Park	9/30/2007
South Carolina	Charleston	Hampton Park, downtown Charleston	11/4/2007
South Carolina	Columbia	Riverfront Park	10/21/2007
Tennessee	Memphis	Memphis Botanic Garden	10/20/2007
Texas	Amarillo	Medical Center Park	9/22/2007
	Austin	Capitol Grounds	9/23/2007
	Brownsville	Lincoln Park	10/13/2007
	Dallas/Fort Worth	Oak Point Park, Plano	10/13/2007
	Flower Mound	Parker Square	11/3/2007
	Houston	Stude Park / White Oak Hike & Bike Trail	11/3/2007
	Wichita Falls	Lucy Park	10/13/2007
Utah	Provo	Provo Canyon's Parkway Trail	10/6/2007
Vermont	Brattleboro	Brattleboro Masonic Center	10/13/2007
Vermont	Burlington	Battery Park	10/6/2007
Virginia	Fairfax Station	Burke Lake	10/13/2007
	Reston	Reston Town Center	10/7/2007
	Virginia Beach	Mount Trashmore Park	10/6/2007
	Winchester	Winchester Moose Lodge	9/29/2007
Washington	Seattle	Seattle Waterfront	10/27/2007
Wisconsin	Burlington	MGA Research Corp.	11/3/2007
	Fond du Lac	Marian College	10/19/2007
	Madison	Vilas Park	9/30/2007

In popular culture

US drama series Sorry for Your Loss produced by Facebook Watch and focussing on experiences of grief following the death from a possible suicide, centres an entire episode, "Norway" S2E5, on the AFSP Out of Darkness Walk as the central element of the episode.^[3]

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References

↑ AFSP: Community Walks Home. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
↑ AFSP: Overnight Home. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
↑ M, Smita (October 15, 2019). "'Sorry for your Loss' Season 2 Episode 5 'Norway' focusses on the grieving process as Leigh is triggered by memories of Matt". MEAWW Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. Retrieved September 17, 2022.

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[1] AFSP: Community Walks Home. Retrieved September 18, 2007.

[2] AFSP: Overnight Home. Retrieved September 19, 2007.

[3] M, Smita (October 15, 2019). "'Sorry for your Loss' Season 2 Episode 5 'Norway' focusses on the grieving process as Leigh is triggered by memories of Matt". MEAWW Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. Retrieved September 17, 2022.

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