OXFORD – Golfers will take to the links at Oxford’s Blue Stone golf course this Sunday, May 21, to bring the conversation about suicide and mental illness out of the darkness and into the light.

It is the seventh year the course will host the event: Team Chenango’s Out of the Darkness Golf Tournament.

Changing the conversation about suicide and mental illness has become a mission for the members of Team Chenango. The group was started by Danielle Marshman, and now includes Maggie Dorsey, Rheia Benedict, Steve Estelow, Teresa Hollister, Lori Olsen and Melissa Stagnaro. Dorsey is team captain.

“Every year suicide claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined, and yet we struggle to talk about it,” Marshman said.

In a small town, people are often less willing to admit it’s something that can happen close to home. But Dorsey and her teammates – and truly the entire Oxford community – knows that it can.

Each year, Team Chenango walks in the Out of the Darkness Overnight, an 18-mile dusk ‘til dawn walk organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

“AFSP is really the leader in the fight against suicide,” Dorsey said. “They fund research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, and support survivors of suicide loss. All with the goal of reducing the annual suicide rate 20% by 2025.”