Mortimer speaks suicide awareness

NCW - The Christ Center in Chelan and Cashmere have been working alongside business owners in Wenatchee and a group of 12 in Chelan, Manson, and Pateros to bring Bob Mortimer into schools to speak on suicide awareness from April 8-15.

Chelan Campus Pastor Nick Longmire stated that suicide rates in Chelan County are high, not only statewide but also nationally, and is a concern to many community members. Last year, a group of business owners reached out to the Cashmere Senior Pastor wanting to do something in order to help educate students in North Central Washington on this sensitive topic.

The group decided that they would subsidize Mortimer as a guest speaker to the schools. Mortimer will be sharing his story at 13 different school assemblies on the time he was coming home from a party during his high school days and suffered a fatal accident, losing his two legs and one arm. “He struggled with suicide and depression, and eventually he came through that and found hope,” said Longmire.

Mortimer will also be present at the three youth rallies that will take place in different locations in the community. “We are trying to get the students from the schools to jump in and be a part of that,” said Longmire. The rallies are open to all youth and are welcome to attend. Food will be provided and they will be able to hear more from Mortimer and his message of hope. Those who attend the rally are going to receive a resource card with contact information, along with the suicide hotline number.

Longmire explained that in Chelan a 30-day Kindness Challenge is being developed. The idea is to have a social media bundle for the schools to post describing a  challenge for the day. The challenges might start off easy and get harder as the days go by. “A lot of those cases of suicide develop out of cases of being bullied, so this is a way to also approach it from that point,” clarified Longmire.

The big picture of the week is to spread awareness, recognize signs and for people to get accurate help. Longmire and the rest of the group don’t want this to be a one-time event. “We would like to develop some support groups for it and possibly do more with that,” said Longmire.

The Gathering

On March 27, a pre-rally was held at the Ruby Theater in Chelan to give student leaders the training needed to help spread the word on suicide. Approximately 60 students participated in the event and received a mini training on Suicide Prevention. The event also served as a way for them to get informed on the rallies and spread the word around.  


Bob Mortimer 2019 Rally/Assembly Schedule

April 8th
Pateros 9:00 AM Assembly
Brewster HS 11:00 AM Assembly
Entiat 1:30 PM Assembly

April 9th
Wenatchee High School 9:50-10:20 AM 11:15-11:45 AM Assembly
Westside High School 1:30 PM Assembly

April 10th
Chelan MS 9:30 AM Assembly
Chelan HS: 11:00 -11:50 AM Assembly
Manson 1:20 - 2:10 PM Assembly
Chelan Youth Rally - 6 PM Chelan Community Gym

April 11th
Cascade High School 9 AM Assembly
Leadership after
Icicle River Middle School 11:55 AM Assembly
Leadership after

April 12th
Cashmere HS 8:15 AM Assembly
Cashmere MS 9:30 AM Assembly
Wenatchee Youth Rally Sage Hills Church 6PM

April 13th

April 14th
Christ Center 10 AM Assembly
CORE Team 12:30 PM Assembly
Upper Valley Youth Rally Sanctuary 6 PM

April15th
Sterling MS 9:00 AM 10:15 AM and lunch at 11:30 AM (available to students)