More than 2,000 people participated in the “Walk Out of the Darkness” event at Jones Beach State Park on Sunday to help raise money for suicide prevention. 

The walk was hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 

“I'm here because my daughter Anneleise McCain committed suicide in July 2012, four months before her 21st birthday, says Everett McCain. “It's something none of us saw coming.” 

McCain from West Babylon and his cousin Tashana Small, like so many who participated, felt it was important to be there.  

In 2019, John and Mary O’Shea lost their 18-year-old, Ryan, to suicide. They encourage others to stop the stigma and open the dialogue. They say the walk at Jones Beach is helping them heal and “get through the grief.”

Patchogue resident, Carolyn Hernandez, walked in memory of her 17-year-old daughter Jordan Brooks, who took her life in May. 

“It’s just a horrible epidemic,” says Hernandez. “Parents really need to talk to their children and find out what’s going on in their lives.” 

Ten-digit dialing began Sunday to support new National Suicide and Mental Health Crisis hotline. It is another step to help those in need of mental health support. 

Residents with a 516 number will have to dial 10-digits, even when dialing another 516 number. The change is to make way for the new national hotline: 988. 

Before this change, if someone needed help, they had to dial an 800 number. On Long Island many of those calls are answered by counselors at the Response Crisis Center in Stony Brook. 

Crisis counselors feel the new 988 system will help to save lives. 

For now, the hotline number remains at 1-800-273-TALK until July 2022.