$19K Grant Helps To Expand ‘Save A Shore Farmer’ Campaign

BERLIN – A local suicide prevention campaign for farmers and farm families will expand this year with the help of additional grant funding.

Last fall, the Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program partnered with the local Suicide Prevention Coalition – a consortium of nonprofits, counseling services, health departments, hospitals and school systems – to launch “Save a Shore Farmer” with the help of a $19,000 grant from the Rural Maryland Council.

Officials said Save a Shore Farmer’s first year focused on intensive media outreach to raise awareness of the heightened risk of suicide in farm families and to spread the message that suicide can be prevented. This included billboard placement, more than 1,000 television spots, placing printed information at 19 sites in the lower three counties where farmers may gather, and appearances at agricultural-related events.

Jesse Klump Memorial Fund President Kim Klump said a report from the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) noted the high suicide risk associated with farmers, forestry workers and commercial fishermen.

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