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Jesse Klump Memorial Fund, Inc.: Empowering Communities
Jesse Klump Memorial Fund, Inc. - Our Suicide Prevention Outreach
We're Everywhere!
Our dauntless Outreach Coordinator, Donna Gleckler, will be at the Ocean Pines Farmers Market most Saturdays regardless of the einter temperatures. Donna does 50+ tabling events for the JKMF every year.
Our presence in local schools has grown substantially thanks to the work of Executive Director Katrin Huber. We support Signs of Suicide in schools, and the anonymous anti-bullying reporting app, STOPIT!. Katrin's experience as an art teacher adds a dimension to our outreach that goes beyond the usual classroom experience.
Watch for the Community River of Kindness program in Berlin's Stephen Decatur Park, coming in 2025. The River of painted rocks, each with a message of hope, will be a destination for everyone.
The JKMF will begin hosting Question-Persuade-Refer suicide prevention classes in 2025. QPR is a tested and internationally-recognized suicide prevention class. It takes 90 mintes, and everyone who takes it reports that after the class they feel a lot more comfortable about asking someone if they are suicidal. Our QPR classes are free, and we will take the class anywhere on the lower Eastern Shore. Call 667-227-9247 to arrange a class for your group.
The summer Eco Therapy Camp returns for the 4th year in 2025. This camp provides a myriad of outdoor experiences to kids from 8 to 15, including canoeing and kayaking, a ropes course, surfing, paddleboarding and other outdoor activities. The goal: To challenge kids every day with something they've never done, building their self-esteem and their resiliency. The JKMF makes it possible for many kids to attend at either reduced cost or no cost.
In partnership with Salisbury University, the Green Bandana Project increases student awareness of vital school-based mental health and suicide prevention resources, and empowers students to seek help when they need it. Green Bandana goes hand-in-hand with the JKMF scholarship program at SU that helps a local student in mental health or suicide prevention acquire his or her Masters' Degree.
When one loses someone close to suicide, the grief caan be overwhelming, difficult to understand, and shrouded in guilt, anger, blame and disbelief. The JKMFs Local Outreach to Suicide Providers (LOSS) Team is a cadre of trained volunteers, many of whom are survivors of a suicide loss, to reach out to the newly bereaved with compassion and resources.
988 has been the national crisis and suicide hotline since 2023, and the JKMF has been a leader in promoting the number, educating the public about how it works, and encouraging anyone and everyone in a mental health crisis to call. There's never any shame in seeking help.
About Us
Our Mission
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
Our Mission
The Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program's objective is to end the threat of suicide in Worcester County and beyond through a program of outreach and education.
The grief following a suicide is often more intense, more complex, and more difficult to come to terms with than grief following a loss to other causes.
In addition to several community organized events throughout the year; each month, the program hosts a support group meeting for those who have lost loved ones to suicide and who are having difficulty coming to terms with their grief.
Our People
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
Our Mission
Jesse R. Klump
In early 2009, the tragic death of Jesse Klump cast a pall over the entire community of Snow Hill, Maryland. Jesse was a fine scholar, a gifted athlete and a natural leader. Beyond his grades or his athletic achievement, Jesse had already demonstrated maturity beyond his years and had, by the strength of his character, inspired his peers (and some of us who are a lot older than his peers) to respect and emulate him.
Jesse remains the light that guides us through all of our missions. The Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program exists to help young people navigate the anguish and challenges of their young adult lives; to become what Jesse would have become, to achieve Jesse’s goal of making the world a better place through others.
Board of Directors
Kim A. Klump
President
Kim is a retired Licensed Environmental Health Specialist for the Worcester County government. She has trained as a facilitator for suicide grievers’ support groups and is a certified mentor for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Kim hosts the monthly suicide grievers' support group and is a certified personal grief counselor.
Kathy Bassett
Vice President
Ed Tudor
Treasurer
Stacey Norton
Recording Secretary
Ronald W. Pilling
Corresponding Secretary
Donna Gleckler
Outreach Coordinator
Board Members
- Tiffany Barry
- Donna Black
- Leah Klump
- Jennifer Rice
The Jesse Klump Memorial Fund welcomes those who wish to join us in our mission of teaching suicide prevention skills and enhancing access to mental health care. If you find commonality with our work, ask about volunteering or serving on our Board of Directors.
Our History
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
The Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program is a program of the Jesse Klump Memorial Fund, Inc. The Fund was created in March, 2009 following the tragic loss to suicide of Jesse Klump, a promising Snow Hill High School senior.
“I wanted to do something Jesse would approve of”, his mother Kim Klump said. The community responded with an outpouring of love and compassion and it became obvious that the original mission, providing scholarship aid to young people who, like Jesse, had demonstrated a passion for service and altruism, had struck a common chord.
By 2011, the mission had expanded to fill an unmet need in our Maryland Eastern Shore communities: a youth suicide prevention outreach and education program. Our main focus is still preventing youth suicide, by teaching young people skills to cope with modern stress (such as bullying, peer pressure, grade pressure). In the years since 2009 we have found ourselves addressing suicide across all demographics. Since some of our citizens find themselves in occupations or situations that exacerbate their suicide risk (1st responders and farm families, for example) we create targeted programs to reach those folks.
Those loved ones left behind after a suicide find themselves engulfed in grief that the rest of us cannot fathom. Kim Klump, Jesse's Mom, President and a founding Board Member, launched monthly post-suicide grievers' support group in early 2011. Hundreds of people have met others struggling with the same in the meetings, and have found ways to peace with their loss. In 2024 this work was strengthened by the creation of a Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) Team which reaches those left behind promptly and with compassion.
The JKMF also provides financial aid to healthcare providers, counselors and educators who wish to continue their educations and bring their new skills back to those is our area that need them.
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
Since our founding in 2009, we have...
May 2009 - The first Jesse Klump Memorial Scholar was chosen.
July 2009 - The JKMF obtained 501(c)3 non-profit status.
August 2009 - The first fundraiser, Jesse’s Paddle, was held in August with over 100 guests.
August 2010 - The Board of Directors began conversations about establishing a youth suicide awareness and prevention program for Worcester County, a county with historically high rates of suicide.
Early 2011 - The first monthly suicide grievers' support group meeting was convened.
September 2011 - The Fund launched the Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program and the first Outreach Coordinator joined us.
2012 - The Fund began sponsoring Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) for educators, healthcare professionals and interested private citizens.
2013 - Our first suicide prevention website was launched.
2014 - The Jesse Klump Memorial Fund sponsored the first Out of the Darkness Community Walk in Ocean City.
2015 - SOS! Signs of Suicide was introduced in every public middle school health class.
2016 - The Suicide Prevention Coalition of the Lower Eastern Shore convened, creating a partnership of over 20 agencies.
2017 - The start of a grant program to fund educators' and heath care workers' attendance to conferences, classes and workshops.
2017 - The JKMF introduced STOP!T to students at Stephen Decatur Middle School. STOP!T is an anonymous bullying reporting app.
2018 - Save a Shore Farmer launched to address the unusually high rates of suicide in farm families.
2018 - The 10th annual Jesse's Paddle drew a record crowd.
2018 - The100th survivors' support group met, having served over 100 post-suicide grievers.
2019 - Weekly e-newsletters started, going to 700+ subscribers.
2020 - We reached the 500th tabling event at which we have exhibited.
2023 - The JKMF's first grant program with Salisbury University funded Masters' Degree work for a social work student.
2024 - The JKMF launched the Lower Eastern Shore's first Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) Team.
