Beacon for Hope Suicide Prevention typically start the year with its biggest fundraiser of the year, and Saturday night had a big turnout for the Unmasking Suicide Masquerade Ball.
Over 100 people went to the Bowyer Community Building for activities including dancing, a silent auction, a bingo scavenger hunt, a caricature artist, tarot card readers and a DJ. Owen says the event was the best one in the event’s nearly 10-year history for one main reason: “the support in the room.”
While those some of the activities change every year, one constant has been the unmasking — an activity that Beacon Director Melissa Owen says the unmasking is vitally important even after the event is over.
Owen says the event is light-hearted, but it comes at a time where a lot of people are struggling to work through different daily stresses. She also says Beacon is targeting a lot of its coping messaging at this very point.
Over $3,500 was generated. Owen says that will largely go into materials and activities.
2026 will be busy for Beacon, which already has several community events planned in Emporia at a time when it continues expanding access to services across the southeast corner of Kansas through a state grant announced this past summer. Once the grant ends, Owen says Beacon will likely constrict its main work to Lyon and surrounding counties — but the overall goal remains to expand access to crisis mental health services across Kansas.
More information is available at hopelinks.org and on Beacon’s social media platforms.
