Death Of Cartwright Teen Sparks Montana’s First SAVE Chapter

Sidney Herald

He had an exuberant personality, always ready for adventures, and he loved to run.

When 15-year-old Fairview track star Anders Lassey took his own life last month, it shocked everyone who knew him. No one saw it coming. Least of all, his cross country coach, Bert Olson, who the family asked to give Lassey’s eulogy.

“He was looking at going back next year and being part of the team,” Olson said. “I had talked to him about stepping up into a leadership role, possibly even becoming a team captain. And he showed interest in that.”

After Lassey’s death, his parents showed Olson the letter the youth had left behind.

“I think it just has to do with mental illness, and not being able to find someone to relate to, and maybe feeling out of place, like he didn’t belong,” Olson said. “But he did belong. Our team loved him, and he was loved by a lot of people in the community. It’s just a matter of, I think, teaching people that people do care and people do love them, and we want to be able to to teach them to choose life. There is so much life to be had.”

Anders loved facts, and was full of useful information, Olson recalled. For Lassey’s eulogy, Olson decided to research the facts behind suicides in Montana. “During the process of that, I found the organization, SAVE.org and I noticed there were no charters here,” he said. “Not even in our state or the surrounding states. So I decided to fill out an application to start a charter for Eastern Montana and the northwestern North Dakota region.”

This newly chartered SAVE chapter will cover a 100-mile radius, and seek to not only raise awareness of the problem of suicide, but to connect area schools with resources that can help.

Among these, there is a school curriculum, Students Mobilizing Awareness and Reducing Tragedies, which would be available to any district within their region.

“SAVE would give them a $500 budget for the students, to purchase pamphlets and suicide awareness wallet cards and key chains, and just help them with whatever they’d want for their program,” Olson said.

Meanwhile, May will be mental health awareness month, and the group is hoping to have a conference to bring together community stakeholders ranging from law enforcement and teachers to community members and others.

“We would open it up to everyone to come in and get the training we think our community needs,” he said.

To pull off the conference, however, the group will need to raise money, and it is planning an event sometime in March of 2021 for that purpose. The group is also thinking about events for next year, including the Emotions in Motion 5k Walk-Run for Mental Health in July, and, potentially, activities for September, which is mental health awareness month.

The group still has a few key leadership positions not yet filled, and its seeking more volunteers to help with upcoming events and efforts.

Call Olson at 406-480-6162 for details about that, or Anthony at 406-480-5321.

Anthony said he asked to be involved in the group because of his own experiences with friends and family members who have lost a loved one to suicide.

“When he read the eulogy to me during a meeting we had, it really touched me,” he said. “I felt like this was a thing I’d love to be part of, so I asked to assist him in any way possible.”

The need, Anthony and Olson said, is very great in Montana as a whole, and in rural areas like Fairview and Sidney in particular.

Montana has ranked in the top five nationwide for suicide rates the past 30 years for all age groups, according to Olson’s research. In 2016, Montana had the second highest suicide rate with 267 deaths, an estimated rate of 25.9 percent.

For 2020, Montana was already at 312 suicides in November, with an estimated rate of 28.9 percent, which is putting it on track for the nation’s highest suicide mortality rate. “We have to let our community know that there are resources available,” Olson said. “There are people who will listen. People they can talk to to help them get through the pain they are feeling. SAVE’s mission is to prevent suicide through public awareness and education, to reduce stigma, and (to provide) resources for those touched by suicide.”