It has been a rough road to get to this point. It sometimes feels as though only a short time has passed since Jay took his life and sometimes it feels like it's been an eternity. We owe a substantial debt of gratitude to so many for their help and support over the past five years.

To Pastor Kim for his spiritual guidance, to Colly Tettelbach for always being there for anything and everything , to Pat Garrigues with Suicide Prevention Services for her knowledge and direction, to all those who are walking this walk with us in the LOSS groups, to Rick Lostutter for the WEB page and Anne Lostutter for her constant support and input, to Burn-a-Disc and Sutton Sound Studio, to David Martin for art logo design, to Western Stage for the opportunity to present "Jay in Shades of Gray" at Hartnell, Ron Caucus, Dustin Starks, and Chris Seddon for video production, and to Copy Mat for donations of services and materials. We are especially grateful to Suzanne Culver and Atascadero High School for having the insight, faith, and courage to take Jay's story to a higher level and doing the live presentations for their health education classes. The video of their efforts is going far and wide. So many people have helped so much and yet we have a long way to go as we read or hear almost daily of another suicide. We will press on.

Actually, a little more than a year has passed since the play was originally presented in Atascadero and now we believe that we must do something to prevent suicide on a larger scale. This year (1999-2000) Atascadero High School presented the video in conjunction with the student books provided to them at no cost by the JCCA. The presentations were very effective, allowing each student to study Jay's artwork and reflect more on it and the words.

The program has also been gifted to Palma High School , Everett Alvarez High School, Notre Dame High School and Gabilan View Middle School here in Salinas. A presentation of the video was made at a meeting of teachers for the Monterey County Office of Education's "at risk students" and gifted to MCOE. Additional copies have been given to other individuals to be shown and hopefully given to schools in Los Gatos, Santa Rosa, and Red Bluff /Redding.

During the month of April, we presented the program at the American Association of Suicidology Conference in Los Angeles. We gave a copy to a high school student from Turlock who is a survivor and is developing a survivors group as a senior project. A copy has been forwarded to Gerry Harrington of the Suicide Information and Education Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for their evaluation. This could result in international exposure. All in all it has been a very productive and rewarding beginning for JCCA.

The key to suicide prevention is knowledge and awareness and you have made these goals attainable. As with any nonprofit organization, donations are always needed and appreciated. Thank you for your love and support.