About the scholarship, Hope Squad, and Ava's family's goal:
Hope Squad is an organization that helps high schools have the tools for suicide prevention and mental health education. With the help of donations, we have been able to continue to fund this program for Whitehall High School, and begin planting new Hope Squads in surrounding area schools in honor of Ava VanderStelt. Two schools in the area have already been funded from donations, and proceeds from the White Lake Nutrition RunIt 5K will go towards future endeavors of our local hope squads.
From Ava's Family:
"As her parents, we are devastated at the loss of our fierce, amazing daughter, and we want to help all parents that we can never to have to go through this tragic event. Ava was such an incredible powerhouse in school, sports, family, friends, animals and her faith in God. We hope to share her story and our experience working our way through this to empower parents, teachers, and students and create a healthy environment for open conversations about mental health. As parents, our pain is very real and runs so deep with the loss of our sweet Ava, but also, as parents, we realize that this tragedy has touched the hearts of so many families we want to help all of us heal together. This community has surrounded us with great love; we are so thankful and humbled by all of this. The blessing and prayers that have been poured upon us have given us the strength to continue moving forward and staying strong for our surviving children. We want to build Ava's Hope Squad to breathe our love back into this community and make sure that the memories of Ava will stay alive and well within all who she touched. We appreciate all the help we have been given and hope that we can give as much help back as possible. Thank you."
