Merritt Island High School was the first recipient of our You Matter bench. It sits in the student commons area and has the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline engraved on it to help students at MIHS remember help is just a call or text away. Shout out to Eastern Florida State College! They allowed us to place a bench on EACH of their 4 campuses! In addition, Florida Tech’s Parent Leadership Council spearheaded the initiative to get suicide awareness benches placed throughout their campus! We’ve purchased and installed benches at many parks around Brevard County, and we continue to do even more!
Did you know on average 1,100 college students are lost to suicide EVERY YEAR! Are you kidding me? One is one too many. We have to help make a change. They need to know how to ask for help. It’s a simple way of sharing the 988 Crisis Lifeline with our community, and a way to remind anyone passing by our benches that they matter.
Each bench location is chosen with meaning. Thanks to our donors, we get to continue to spread the You Matter message throughout our communities! We can’t wait to place even MORE benches in special places!
In 2026 we have begun a goal of placing a suicide awareness bench at each Brevard public high school! Let’s do this!
From donations collected through a special fundraiser in Wisconsin, Washington Middle School in Manitowoc Wisconsin received a You Matter Bench, and the students had the fun of assembling it!