I want to tell you what happened after I hit post. This is the power of showing up.

I shared a story in a local Facebook group on Sunday. Last I checked, there were nearly 300 reactions, 46 shares, multiple private messages, and a comment section full of people I've never met telling me about the people they've lost to suicide. Their husbands. Their mother in laws. Their friends. People they still think about every day.

This story started with a man named Paul, and he had no idea what his death would launch.

One woman bought six of Paul's bridges before any of this existed, before there was a campaign, before there was a name for it, before anyone had called it anything. She bought them because she loved them. Then she shipped them to family members spread across the country because she wanted the people she loved to have one.

She had no idea what she was holding.

Paul built those bridges because he was handy and needed something to do. That's it. No grand design. No plan for any of this. Just a man, his tools, and the quiet work of making something with his hands.

And somehow those bridges ended up in homes across this country, in the hands of people who needed something to hold onto before anyone knew that's what they were.

For those of you who are new here, welcome. I'm Amber. My husband Jason and I live in Volusia County and we've been building Rainbow Bridge of Hope for the last several months in partnership with TROA Inc., a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit doing real suicide prevention work.

Paul Allabaugh was the founding craftsman. He built wooden bridges and birdhouses by hand. He died by suicide. His wife Pat is the reason any of this is possible, she said yes, she gave her blessing, and she is still here carrying something no one should have to carry alone.

The campaign is built on Psalm 23:4.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

That valley is not a metaphor. The bridge is the walk through. Paul built bridges his whole life. We're just making sure they go a little further.

Here's what's coming next.

Paul's bridges and birdhouses will be available for purchase. In person, on a date and time I'll announce soon. Every dollar from those sales goes to Pat - next phase will go to Pat and to TROA's suicide prevention mission. When the website launches, you'll be the first to know.

If you want one of Paul's bridges (I do have a list started), please let me know. The announcement will come through email.

If someone shared this with you and you want to stay connected, you can subscribe at volusiavoices.com.

And if you or someone you love is in the valley right now, please call or text 988. You don't have to be in crisis to call. You just have to be hurting.

Thank you for showing up. Thank you for sharing your stories. Thank you for holding Paul's work before you even knew what it meant.

We're just getting started. This picture doesn’t nearly do the bridge justice.

— Amber