Family raising funds for suicide prevention

Anchored by a Chinese Auction, the fundraiser will bein the Breakers Cafeteria at Lakeland.

Derek “Duke” Murphy comes from a tight-knit family of doers.

The 28-year-old Mentor native was shaken to the core of his soul in 2013 when his best friend, Patrick Ziegler, committed suicide.

Murphy said he and Ziegler had known each other since seventh grade. Both graduated from Mentor High School and both went to Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

“I run through that day a lot in my head. It was definitely a shock. Patrick had anxiety issues, but he never talked about doing anything like that,” Murphy said recently during a telephone interview from his office in Lexington, Ky., where he is director of development and stewardship for the Phi Gamma Delta Educational Foundation.

“After something like that happens, you want to find a way to make something good come out of it,” he added.

Beginning in 2014, Murphy found that outlet as a participant in the annual Out of Darkness Walk coordinated by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

As captain of Team PZ, named in honor of Ziegler, Murphy will participate in the Out of Darkness Walk in Cleveland on Oct. 18.

Prior to that, he’ll be joined by a host of fellow Murphy family members in staging a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Anchored by a Chinese Auction, the fundraiser is scheduled at noon on Aug. 18 in the Breakers Cafeteria at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. The goal is to raise $10,000.

Murphy said the inspiration for the AFSP fundraiser came from the American Cancer Society fundraisers his family held at Lakeland Community College for many years to honor the memory of his uncle, Jim Murphy, who died in 2007 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Jim Murphy, a Perry Township resident, was an editor and columnist for The News-Herald for 28 years.

“This family is really close. What happened to Jim affected all of us,” Duke Murphy said. “We do everything together, and these fundraisers are something the family has always been good about.”

Working closely with Duke Murphy and serving as coordinator of the fundraiser is his aunt, Maureen Kiss, a Painesville Township resident and the sister of the late Jim Murphy.

“She is a very determined individual,” Murphy said of Kiss, who also was a driving force for the American Cancer Society fundraisers.

While she is involved with every aspect of planning the AFSP fundraiser, Kiss specializes in reaching out to area residents and businesses for items to fill baskets used for the Chinese Auction. As of this writing, she’s pulled together 110 baskets. Her goal is to have 150 or more baskets available for bidding at the fundraiser.

“You should see my basement,” Kiss said, laughing.

“It was heartbreaking to see the impact Patrick’s death had on Duke,” Kiss added. “When he told me he wanted to have the No. 1 team in the walk in fundraising (for AFSP), I was all in.”

Admission to the fundraiser is $5. Ten auction tickets come with each admission. Additional auctions tickets are $1 apiece and 6 for $5.