Calgary chef raising awareness and funds for suicide and prevention
Posted Jun 24, 2021 9:00 pm.
Last Updated Jun 25, 2021 6:24 am.
CALGARY (CityNews) – A Calgary chef says he lost 14 of his friends because of suicide since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And now Dustin Schafer, Executive Chef at Modern Steak, is raising awareness about suicide prevention.
“It affected me deeply,” said Schafer. “The last 16 months have been pretty tough, personally and in the industry, for a lot of us. We’ve lost a lot of friends, family, acquaintances.”
Schafer and owner Steven Deere started raising awareness and funds through a sold-out dinner on Sunday.
Deere says in this industry, your kitchen colleagues are your family.
“These are our future chefs, future owners, these are family members. And to not able to help them, it’s tough,” added Deere. “I chalk it up a lot to ego, bravado, tough man, we don’t ask for help, we don’t need help.”
Every year in Alberta, death by suicide kills more people than in a car accident. Seventy-five per cent are men.
The executive director of Suicide Prevention Calgary says all of us can reach out and do something to support others.
“Really listening, and then being able to ask people, sometimes when things are this bad, some people are thinking about suicide,” said Mara Grunau.
Now the actual number of suicides has gone down during the pandemic even though mental health issues and suicidal thoughts continue to be on the mind.
However, every year more than 4,000 Canadians die by suicide.
Support is available, call 211 to be connected with community resources.
