Dealing with the loss of a loved one can be an overwhelming experience and someone who is grieving should not be faced with financial issues on top of it. This is an issue that the Community Foundation of Marquette County is addressing, as it announced Monday the creation of a resource to provide financial help to area residents who experienced the loss of a loved one to a violent suicide.

The Marquette County Emergency Cleaning Fund was created to distribute funds to ensure that the site of the suicide will be cleaned quickly and without expense to those who lost the friend or family member in the tragic event.

The idea came about after area resident Dave Aro recently witnessed the suicide of a friend. He came up with the fund as a way to provide help to families through the crisis. Aro spoke to EMS workers and law enforcement and found that there was no system in place to help with cleanup after these types of incidents. Cleaning the site of a suicide can cost upwards of $5,000 due to the requirement of biological remediation and families who can’t afford such a hefty cost are often forced to clean the site themselves, which can be extremely traumatic as well as unsafe.

“The police I spoke with were very sad and frustrated that they had nothing to offer people going through this,” Aro said in a press release.

After researching suicides in the area, Aro found that the rate of violent suicides has been increasing in recent years and that Marquette County averages eight to 10 of these events each year. Aro contacted the Community Foundation of Marquette County to establish the fund.

“As someone who’s given back to the community for a long time, Dave has a proven track record in terms of recognizing local needs and responding to them,” said Zosia Eppensteiner, Community Foundation of Marquette County CEO. “He clearly identified the need and the gap in resources and services and made a strong case to create a fund to address it.”

The foundation is currently working with Six Feet Over, which is a Michigan-based nonprofit that provides assistance and other resources to suicide loss survivors throughout the state.

Aro and Eppensteiner met with the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department and the Marquette County Health Department to discuss the fund. The fund is a community collaboration.

“Our foundation’s mission is connecting donors with community needs, along with leading and collaborating to address them,” Eppensteiner said. “We are doing exactly that with our community partners, who are involved locally and statewide in suicide prevention and ‘postvention,’ along with members of the community who feel strongly about this issue and support this effort.”

After an incident, with the fund in place, members of law enforcement will provide information on how to contact the program. The family member will be put in touch with Six Feet Over, which will schedule a local cleaning service to handle the cleanup. In addition to paying for the service, the organization will offer other free support for survivors for up to a year after the event.

This cause is an extremely thoughtful one and we applaud Aro for pitching the idea, although we send our condolences for his loss. We can’t think of too many organizations that are more worthy of a donation than this one, so if you are able to, please consider making a contribution to this fund.

Those who wish to support the fund can donate online at www.marquetteemergencycleaningfund.org or contact the foundation at 906-226-7666 for more information.