As the sun set Saturday evening, a large crowd gathered at the Corn Palace Plaza to welcome the twelve runners heading east on this year’s 437 Project relay raising awareness of suicide prevention and supporting the 988 Helpline.
Runner and Sioux Falls Fire-Rescue member Kyle Blakeslee led the group into Mitchell. “It was kind of emotional, I’ve been waiting for this since December when I found out,” said Blakeslee. “It was just really fun to have my family here and to have all the support from Mitchell’s first-responders and the town of Mitchell and just think about all the people that I’m running for and enjoy the weather. It’s just been…I’m at a loss for words, I teared-up.”
Raising mental health awareness for first-responders was Blakeslee’s reason for running.
She said her biggest challenge in making the 437 mile run was a lack of sleep.
The group started its journey last Thursday at the Wyoming-South Dakota line and completed its run Sunday at the South Dakota-Iowa border. The event raised $320,000 for the 988 Helpline.