Mike and Jess Trout Want You to Know That Your Game Isn't Over Yet ;

Mike and Jess Trout Want You to Know That Your Game Isn't Over Yet ;

As you may or may not know, I lost my brother in 2018 to suicide. Over the past few years since that tragic day, I’ve learned that struggles with mental health are far too common. In the United States, almost half of adults will experience a mental health illness during their lifetime. Yet the stigmas attached to them cause many of these people to suffer in silence, which can be debilitating and even deadly. This is why Mike & I continue to partner with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and help raise awareness for the many Americans who may feel alone in their struggles. You are NEVER alone.

 

As you may or may not know, I lost my brother in 2018 to suicide. Over the past few years since that tragic day, I’ve learned that struggles with mental health are far too common. In the United States, almost half of adults will experience a mental health illness during their lifetime. Yet the stigmas attached to them cause many of these people to suffer in silence, which can be debilitating and even deadly. This is why Mike & I continue to partner with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and help raise awareness for the many Americans who may feel alone in their struggles. You are NEVER alone.

 
Our families participated in two “Out of the Darkness” walks this past Fall that the New Jersey chapter of AFSP organized and hosted. Watching our hometown, as well as people from all over the state, come together to share in their struggles, honor their loved one’s memories and spread awareness in their names was so emotional, yet so powerful! Mike & I want to continue to fan the flame of advocacy and awareness in the hopes that other families won’t have to experience the pain of losing a loved one in this way.

Mike & I are so excited to launch our collaboration with custom sports apparel brand Tiny Turnip, founder Rachel Luzi and her business partner Jalynne Crawford, to help support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)! We have always been fans and customers of the Tiny Turnip brand. From one-of-a-kind pieces for All-Star games and playoffs or custom designs for our little one on the way to sport at his Daddy’s games, Rachel’s designs never disappoint! Her attention to detail and the quality of her pieces are second to none, and it’s evident that she takes pride in creating special & meaningful artwork for all her sports families.
 

  

To support the cause, Mike & I worked with Rachel to design a special piece of custom artwork that embodied important messages of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. The main focus of our design was the semicolon, symbolizing a punctuation mark in literature where the author could have ended a sentence, but decided to continue the sentence instead. Our design is meant to empower those who are struggling to know it’s okay not to be okay, to seek help and to know that their “game isn’t over yet!” 

 

Through this collaboration, we’ve also learned more about Tiny Turnip’s charitable ambitions and their desire to help bring awareness to the many causes sport’s families advocate for and support. So when Rachel contacted Mike & I this Spring and offered to partner with us and the charity of our choice, it was a no brainer! We knew we wanted to focus our efforts on mental health awareness, specifically suicide prevention, as this is a cause that hits close to home for us.
 
Proceeds from each purchase of product featuring our design will go to the AFSP, who continues to fund scientific research, educate the public and advocate for public policies about mental health and suicide prevention.
 
Tiny Turnip, AFSP, Mike & I are so excited to finally launch this passion project of ours we’ve been working so hard on. Your support is appreciated more than you will ever know and we hope and pray this collaboration touches the lives of even just one precious soul and alters the course of their life for the better. You are loved, you’re never alone and your game isn’t over yet!

 

- Jess and Mike Trout

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