The Robb Nash project travels across Canada spreading awareness on suicide prevention at schools and events alike with the goal to prevent suicide and spread the word that everyone has a purpose in life. They spread their message through rock music with meaningful lyrics, videos and sharing their previous experiences with students in the past, mentioning the near 500 suicide notes he has had handed to him at the end of his shows over the years. The project’s tour bus rolled into the Lakeland Friday, performing at schools in Bonnyville, and finishing their tour at Glendon’s RCMP Hall for a fundraising gala that was open to parents and other community members to learn about dealing with the issues and the trouble that youth today face when it comes to bullying, suicide, addictions, and simply restoring confidence that everyone has a purpose that they will find in their life. Nash has a bright and powerful delivery of his insight into what is a very serious topic.
Robb Nash was in a serious car accident when he was 17, sustaining a serious head injury in the crash. Doctors told his friends and family that Robb would most likely never wake up after surgery to place a titanium plate in the side of his head where his skull had been destroyed. After his recovery, Robb felt that due to his injuries and the consequences that came along with his recovery made him feel useless, that he no longer had a purpose because he was unable to do many things. He found his calling in music, and after experiencing early success in his music career, he decided to use his music and his experience to help others rather than advance his music career, as he chose to tear up his record deal. Robb’s takeaway from his situation was that “I don’t want others to have to die like I did before they start to live.” His message has been spread across Canada, and the project has reached almost 1,000,000 students to date.
Danny Hooper emceed the event, bringing his comedic touch to help keep things light on the evening as well as auctioning off donated items that ranged from bobcat service, two $20 bills that brought in $500 a piece, and even dinner and drinks with two local bachelors in the crowd.
Jeannine Nagy is a Glendon-area resident who has been severely affected by suicide and is the Co-Chair of Lakeland friends, an 8 member non-profit group that organized the event and she was very touched and pleased with the attendance as well as the support that was shown for this cause. “This event was an absolute resounding success; we really opened up conversation on suicide prevention. Robb Nash was fantastic, it was a wonderful performance and he gave insight into a topic that we all need to talk about more. Whether it was during Robb’s presentation, in the hallways or at the tables, the topic was being discussed and we opened a door to help make people comfortable speaking on this topic” Information pamphlets for Robb’s show and project were provided, and Nagy says that the reception of this info was very strong. “We noticed afterwards that about three-quarters of the information pamphlets that we placed on tables were gone, meaning that many people brought this info home to use in their future experiences with suicide prevention and that is very encouraging for us.” All 8 members of the Lakeland Friends have been affected by suicide, and they discovered through preparation for the event that they were not alone and Nagy shared her story early, noting the experience was “healing and uplifting.”
When all was said and done, the Gala was able to donate roughly $30,000 back to the Robb Nash project as all the proceeds were given to the group to help them continue their journey of suicide awareness and prevention. Nagy added that “Danny Hooper really did such a good job keeping things light with his humor; we have to thank Robb Nash for his work as well. It’s so important that this topic continues to receive more attention and after Friday, we have helped spread even more awareness about this serious situation that we all hope to prevent.”
