The Partnership for Ontario County

Six years ago on September 1st, 2014 my family tragically lost our Mother to Suicide.  In the years after she passed we watched as thousands of families all over the United States struggled to rip their loved ones away from the grips of mental illness, opioid addiction, and overdoses.  Our Canandaigua community watched as parents, children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, co workers and communities laid to rest their own.  In 2017 The Community Support Center was created.  Since then they have worked tirelessly to provide services to families in need throughout Ontario County.  ALL of their services are FREE OF CHARGE and community funded.  In honor of my Mother, Melissa "Missy" Woodard I am making it her mission to raise much needed funds for the Support Center.  COVID-19 has shut down their biggest in person fundraiser, causing an 84% decrease in funds raised.  

I invite you to join me in making a difference.  Please watch the video, ask questions, and find connection.  

On behalf of my family, The Community Support Center, and my Mother,

THANK YOU & God Bless

Farmer.  Friend.  Classmate.  Co-worker.  Veteran.  Student.  Family.

Have you felt the ripple effect of suicide?  You are not alone.  Most of us have experienced a loss to suicide at one point in our lives. Last year in Ontario County, we lost 17 lives to suicide. 

The Ontario County Suicide Prevention Coalition (OCSPC) is a group of community advocates, schools and healthcare professionals working together to educate our community about suicide prevention.  We do this through the use of evidence based suicide prevention strategies. These strategies include community, business and school educational presentations such as Talk Saves Lives and ASIST trainings.  Talk Saves Lives is a community-based presentation that covers the general scope of suicide, the research on prevention, and what people can do to fight suicide.  ASIST Trainings (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid.  ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Perhaps most importantly, these activities fight the stigma that surrounds seeking mental health treatment.

In 2018, the Ontario County Suicide Prevention Coalition provided at no cost to participants the following:

•             14 community suicide prevention events and presentations educating 498 people

•             11 Talk Saves Lives events to Ontario County school districts, colleges and school nurses

•             Two ASIST trainings for police officers and local agencies

•             Disseminated 54 suicide prevention toolkits to Ontario County healthcare providers

•             Shared the national Suicide Prevention hotline to over 2,000 people via Facebook

•             Hosted a Kevin Hines suicide prevention presentation which drew a crowd of 200 participants. Kevin is a world renowned, suicide prevention speaker who survived his own suicide attempt. His presentations share a message of hope and healing through community connections.

We need your help! Because of the tremendous response to Kevin Hines’ story, the OCSPC has facilitated his return to Ontario County in 2019.  He will present to Ontario County youth and our community on two separate occasions on September 12, 2019 at FLCC.  We need donations to allow this presentation to be at no cost to our community. The Coalition is also seeking to secure funding for billboards and additional prevention trainings (such as Talk Saves Lives and ASIST Training) within Ontario County. 

We can’t do it alone.  If you would like to help OCSPC’s suicide prevention efforts, please consider donating today.   The OCSPC is working in collaboration with the Partnership for Ontario County, a not-for-profit organization, who will serve as the fiscal agent for this project.

There are 2 ways to help:

1)      Donate on our GoFundMe page  --OR--  You may also donate through the Partnership’s PayPal account .  Or mail a check directly to: The Partnership for Ontario County, 5297 Parkside Drive, Suite 307, Box #20, Canandaigua, NY 14424

2)      Ask a friend if they are ok.  


We cannot do this alone; we need your help to continue our work.  Please consider donating today.