Epsilon-Beta Brother Pearl-Schwartz Advocates for Student Mental Health

Brother David Pearl-Schwartz (’13), with the assistance of his Epsilon-Beta Chapter at the University Miami Brothers, is working to bring awareness to college mental health issues through a display known as “Send Silence Packing”, which is organized by Active Minds, a national organization focused on these issues. Brother Pearl-Schwartz is the president of the University of Miami chapter of Active Minds.
“I chose to get involved with mental health as I have seen first hand the immense damage that silence causes,” said Brother Pearl-Schwartz. “When a couple of my Brothers helped stop a suicide attempt early last year, I knew I had to work to leave a mark on our campus.”
According to Active Minds, 1,100 college students commit suicide each year. That is 1,100 fellow students, friends, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who choose to end their own lives. Over the summer, the University of Miami chapter of Active Minds was chosen to be a host for the powerful ‘Send Silence Packing’ display. This display, which brings 1,100 backpacks – 1 for every college student who commits suicide in a year – along with personal stories from those they’ve left behind, and spreads the backpacks around college greens in order to raise awareness and destroy some of the stigma surrounding mental health issues, especially seeking help when it is needed.
To be able to host the display, the local chapter of Active Minds will need to raise approximately $5,000, which Brother Pearl-Schwartz knows will be possible with the assistance of his chapter Brothers and Kappa Sigmas around the world.
“Brothers, I ask for your help in raising the necessary funds to bring this display to our campus. Epsilon-Beta has been heavily involved with the process of bringing this display to our campus, but we need help taking the final steps to making it happen,” said Brother Pearl-Schwartz.
To assist Epsilon-Beta, Active Minds and Brother Pearl-Schwartz in their efforts, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/czr5hc.
“Too many lives have already been lost or trivialized for it to continue. All it takes is a better understanding of mental health to end the silence and erase the stigma associated with having a mental illness.”