WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL )— Two women are hoping their new movement can stick around for the long haul allowing Wichitans to remember their loved ones.

Back in August, Kym Cullar lost her brother Bryan Kirk to suicide. In his memory she and Dr. Wendy Helmcamp with Midwestern State University held a walk around Sikes Lake.

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As the first Suicide Awareness Walk in Wichita Falls, Cullar and Helmcamp both want the event to become an annual thing. Based on the turnout, it might have the following to come back next year. Helmcamp said 160 people registered for the walk, but counting those who showed up without registering, there could have been over 200 people total at the walk.

Though the walk originated in remembrance of Cullar's brother Bryan, Helmcamp hopes others were able to take something away from the walk as well.

"I just think it helped a lot of people find hope and healing because there were a lot of people who stood up at the end. She read off slips that said, I'm walking in honor of so and so. And so, this whole stage was filled with people standing up because there are so many people affected by suicide," Helmcamp said. "So, I'm hoping that it brought a lot of hope and healing to several people who were here."

A silent auction and a raffle wrapped up the walk, and all of the proceeds from those will go toward a scholarship in Bryan Kirk's name to his alma mater, Midwestern State University, where he studied to become a psychiatric nurse.

Cullar and Helmcamp are both looking to carry the momentum from the first Suicide Awareness Walk into the years to come so nobody has to walk alone.

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