Walking in support of the Long Island Crisis Center

The Long Island Crisis Center held its annual suicide awareness walk on the Long Beach Boardwalk last Sunday, drawing people from across the Island. This year’s walk was the 16th.

The event, which is known as “Let’s Walk, Let’s Talk … Stepping Together to Prevent Suicide,” unites those who have been impacted by suicide, and raises money so the crisis center can continue to operate 24/7, helping Long Islanders in times of need.

The center is based in Bellmore, but the boardwalk has hosted the walk for years. The event brings together families and individuals who have either been affected by suicide or want to see a world without it.

“Over the years, unfortunately, we have seen a lot of tragedy in Long Beach,” Tawni Engel, the center’s associate executive director, said. “It is a very tight-knit, very supportive community. That’s something that we have felt all of these years, and it’s very important that we maintain this presence in Long Beach for that reason.”

Each year, the center chooses a Person of the Year to honor at the walk for their commitment and effort. This year, it wasn’t just a person, but an entire foundation.

“We honored the Michael Diamond Foundation,” Engel said. “They gave out flowers, and it was just such a beautiful thing to see everybody walking with the flowers.”

Diamond, a longtime Long Beach resident and a former New York City police officer and firefighter, died in 2018. The foundation was created in his honor, and it holds an annual golf outing and dinner fundraiser. It has raised over $100,000, which it has donated to raising awareness of suicide, supporting veterans and funding scholarships for students and athletes in need. Money it has raised has gone to groups including the crisis center, VFW Post 1384, the Long Beach Soup Kitchen, the Long Beach Christmas Angels and Toys for Tots, and it covers the school-related expenses of two Long Beach students each year.

“Through their generous support, through their dedication to the same work that we do, and supporting our mission, we felt that they were definitely worthy of our Person of the Year award for this year,” Engel said.

The foundation presented the crisis center with a $7,500 donation before the walk.

“The day as a whole was amazing, it really was,” Engel said. “It was probably our highest-attended walk event we’ve ever had in the 16 years.”

About 600 people walked, roughly 400 of whom registered the day of the event.

The crisis center was founded in 1971, and offers a multitude of services to many Long Island communities. It operates several hotlines, including its main crisis number, (516) 679-1111, and is the 988 center — the national suicide hotline — for the Long Island region.

The center also helps members of the LGBTQ community through its subsidiary agency, PFY, formerly Pride For Youth. Founded in 1993, PFY is now known simply by its acronym.

As of press time, the crisis center had raised just under $80,000 from this year’s walk alone, and donations will continue to be accepted on the center’s website until Oct. 1. To donate, go to Wizathon.com/licc-walk. For more information on the crisis center, visit LongIslandCrisisCenter.org.