The non-profit Break the Silence was founded by local community member Kelly Paris. Its mission is to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health through community music events.
Paris created Break the Silence in 2017 back when she also had an event planning business called Music for Life. Break the Silence started as a festival that she was able to plan through her other company and its connections. The festival garnered such a great response from the community that Paris decided to expand in September of 2019 and file a 501(c)3 to create the non-profit that exists today.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Paris explained that levels of suicide were already extremely high in the county and many more people began to suffer. Paris instantly began thinking of more ways for how she could reach out and help people during this time.
“I was praying for a sign that I was on the right path. Then I got in my car and was furloughed the same day,” said Paris. “I took that as a sign to take Break the Silence to the next level and I gathered my board to discuss creating a free drop-in mental health center for the community.”
Paris and her board members began the application process for a capital grant to make her dream a reality.
With the creation of a community center, Break the Silence plans to offer access to peer support groups, more resources, programs and they are also looking to get into school assemblies to talk about bullying and suicide awareness.
The non-profit started the grant process and found out that they had two weeks to raise $45,000. They ended up raising $57,500 and are continuing to see donations come through.
“The majority of our donations came directly from Morgan County businesses and the Morgan County community,” Paris said. “This means everything to me. To know that I have the community support and this network, this is why I started doing this. To make an impact in people’s lives was my dream in 2016 and to have the support to reach our goal just proves that we are on the right path for this community.”
The center has not been built yet but will be located at 612 East Railroad Ave. in Fort Morgan. In the meantime, Break the Silence is already conducting and organizing programs for suicide prevention and mental health awareness.
The pandemic also presented a unique challenge for the non-profit as they usually host their annual music festival in September. They had filed their application and were given the go-ahead in January 2020 but only a few months later they would have that upended.
“I was calling the health department multiple times a week to try to get the festival to still happen. Then three weeks out from the event we got the go-ahead,” said Paris. “We had a full social distancing plan and the city council voted unanimously for the event to take place. We were able to have 24 vendors, five bands and people from all over came out to show their support. Even though it took quite a bit of extra work it was well worth it.”
At the heart of Break the Silence is the desire to help the community and to raise awareness.
“For me it’s one of those things where I just feel blessed to be able to help people,” said Paris. “People know we are here now and are reaching out to either help or use us as a resource. People trust Break the Silence.”
“We are looking to expand and be everywhere. To be able to help as many people all over. But, of course, we are dedicated to Fort Morgan,” Paris said. “This is my hometown and there is no other place I feel more at home and I just love this community so much. It warms my heart that I am able to do this here.”
Break the Silence is already in the process of working to host this year’s fifth annual Break the Silence Suicide Awareness Festival on Sept. 4, 2021 in Fort Morgan. They will also be hosting the first annual Break the Silence Suicide Awareness Festival on May 22, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky.
