GREECE, NY — September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It’s a month that sheds light on a subject that is often not talked about. A Rochester-area woman is doing her part to honor those who have committed suicide. It is a subject that touches the house.
A front garden is where Gina Delvecchio from Greece goes to reflect and remember her son, Nicholas.
“It’s definitely a reminder of him,” Delvecchio said. “Keep him close to me.”
The garden in front of his house in Greece is also a memorial.
“Nicolas had a heart of gold,” she said. “(He had) a great smile, a great sense of humor.”
But Nicholas Delvecchio, a mechanical engineer, also had mental health issues. Gina checked on her son multiple times the day she lost him in 2017.
“He said, ‘Mom, it’s going to be okay,'” she recalls. “‘I’ll be fine.'”
Since her son’s death, Delvecchio has spent a lot of time working to start a conversation about mental health and suicide prevention. She found solace in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a group that raises funds and awareness. It will hold its annual Rochester’s “Out of the Darkness” event on October 1 at Veterans Memorial Park in Penfield.
“It helps me remember that I’m not alone,” she said. “That there are other people struggling.”
Later in October, Delvecchio organizes the third edition Nicholas Delvecchio Memorial Eventwith a local group, The Dawgs. As with every gig they do, all proceeds go to charity – in this case, AFSP.
“You can’t measure the satisfaction we get from partnering with someone like Gina who not only is a part of this organization, a big part of it, but lives it,” said Steve Ball , the bassist of the band. . “And so, we are honored to be a part of it.”
Gone nearly five years ago, Nicholas is still in his mother’s heart. Gina now finds comfort in helping others who have suffered a similar loss.
“It’s OK not to be OK,” she said.
