Today officially became Suicide Prevention Day in Kentucky on hand as Governor Beshear signed the proclamation.

The mother of a marine who died by suicide.

She was there to show support for a bill that would establish a veteran suicide prevention program.

She says more needs to be done to save those who served.

Our country.

I lost my son, Matthew Winkler, the he was in the Marine Corps.

He was a corporal.

And in 2016, he took his life.

Today, I presented the governor with a little plastic green soldier.

I do that when they come to speak publicly and socially, when I'm talking to politicians and I ask them to please put that on their desk and to remember not only my son, but all other veterans, especially with House Bill 30 being there and the governor placed the soldier on the podium today and then spoke to me after he signed the proclamation.

So today has been a little overwhelming.

But again, it's been very good because I've been able to stress that our veterans and our families as well need more support.

You know, suicide affects a lot of us.

We know that more than 50% of Kentuckians have been affected by suicide of someone they love or know.

And our veterans really deserve the best what they can get.

Right.

And and honestly, they're not getting that.

There's a lot of things the VA is doing and there's a lot of great programs, but we can always use more.

And House Bill 30 is really a great program for additional resources.

Another bill advocates wanted they advocated for at today's event, House Bill 363, which would provide mental health treatment for all first responders in the state.