A Durango mother ordered 1,000 buttons to distribute to the public in an effort to impact mental health in the community after a student at her daughter’s middle school recently died by suicide.
Destiny Deuel, whose older daughter attends Escalante Middle School, ordered buttons with the words “I Am Loved” from Helzberg Diamonds, which donated the buttons when she explained what she was doing.
“My hope is to remind people that they’re important and that they matter,” Deuel said. “Who they are in this community matters.”
Deuel, along with family and friends, took time Saturday to write the suicide prevention hotline number along with a positive message on ribbons to attach to the buttons.
They plan to “reverse panhandle” by standing on street corners in downtown Durango while distributing them to the community.
Deuel received the same “I Am Loved” button when she was in elementary school.
“I still have mine,” she said. “It still pops up every time I need that. If I needed that reminder, someone who’s in a worse situation could definitely need that.”
Deuel didn’t know where the button came from, but a Google search led her to Helzberg Diamonds.
Initially, Deuel planned to give the buttons to the high schools and middle schools, but there weren’t enough buttons to do so.
Deuel hopes the tokens of love and caring will help the community heal and come together.
“When one of us stumbles, it’s on the rest of us to pick them up,” she said.
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