Event to call attention to veteran, law enforcement suicide

Operation Vet NOW will host a 5K walk and run Saturday at the Monongahela Aquatorium.

A nonprofit will hold its first 5K in nearly five years Saturday in Monongahela to raise awareness for veteran and law enforcement suicide.

Operation Vet NOW Inc. will host the 5K walk and run at the Aquatorium. Check-in for runners and walkers will be from 8:30 to 9:50 a.m., with the race beginning at 10 a.m.

There will also be opportunities for veterans and those close to them to seek out programs or services that can help improve mental health and physical wellness. From 9 a.m. to noon, various organizations will have tables set up with information for veterans.

“It’s there so the community and the veterans can understand what’s there if and when they ever need it,” said Tony Aubrey, one of OVN’s founding members and the organizer of the 5K.

OVN’s board members are all military veterans, so they know first hand what it’s like to lose a fellow service member to suicide.

“We personally served with someone that we lost to suicide, probably at least half of us,” Aubrey said. “That’s what brought our attention to start the organization. What’s going on that veterans aren’t reaching out for help? Is the help easily accessible? Is it understandable? We found that it wasn’t.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there were 6,407 veteran suicides in the United States in 2022, an average of 17.6 per day.

There were 1,287 law enforcement and corrections officers who died by suicide from 2016 to 2022, according to a report conducted by FIRST Help and the CNA Corporation.

Aubrey emphasized that OVN focuses heavily on the mental health of veterans and suicide prevention.

Proceeds from the 5K will go towards OVN’s outreach, its Fallen Heroes Project and efforts to improve veterans’ mental health through music and sports therapy.

OVN will have information available during the 5K about the organizations it partners with that provide support for veterans.

Aubrey said veterans come to the organization looking for help on a wide range of issues, including marital problems and financial difficulties.

“We find relationships are a big concern when we see the rate of suicide,” he said. “Sometimes it’s financial. We don’t do a lot with that, but we definitely have some organizations that are great at that.”

As OVN does during every event it puts on, the organization will honor two service members who were killed in the line of duty: Army Spc. John Boliver of Monongahela, who died during a missile attack in Desert Storm, and LCpl. Abram L. Howard of Williamsport, who died while serving in the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan July 2010.

Saturday’s 5K is OVN’s first 5K in-person walk since the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization previously held the event at Renziehausen Park in McKeesport.

“Of course, we took a break there, and then several folks were asking us when we were going to do it again,” Aubrey said.

While mulling over locations to hold the 5K, the Aquatorium emerged as an attractive option.

“One of our board members (Spencer Allen) is a Monongahela police officer, so we got into a discussion about the Aquatorium, and we were like, ‘This is a really great place for this,’” Aubrey said. “We kind of would like to do it there every year.”

To register in advance, go to eventbrite.com/e/5k-run-walk-forveteranle- suicide-prevention-tickets- 989205639697. The registration fee is $30.

To find out more about OVN, go to opvetnow.org.