SALEM, Va. – One year after 10-year-old Autumn Bushman took her own life, hundreds of cars and motorcycles left the Salem Civic Center Saturday for a memorial benefit ride organized to honor her and raise money for suicide prevention in the Roanoke Valley.
“It’s a great feeling to know this many people have showed up to support this family and this cause,” said Bryan Carriker, Vice President of the Roanoke ABATE chapter.
Organizers said the event, called “Autumn’s Ride”, was put on by the Forever10 Foundation, a nonprofit started by Mark Bushman, Autumn’s father. All proceeds from the ride are to benefit the Tudor House for suicide prevention efforts in the area.
“My mom and I wanted to come out because we’re both supporters of mental health, a lot of children struggle with mental health, so we just wanted to come out and support and let people know it’s really important to support our kids and to talk to them,” said Gabby, a participant in the benefit ride.
Participants said they hoped the ride would turn grief into action and draw attention to bullying and children’s mental health.
“We’re here to help the family deal with the suicide of their daughter and help put a stop to it,” said David Paxton, another participant of Autumn’s Ride.
Carriker said the loss touched many participants personally.
“It hit all of us close to home, I mean, I have three kids, most all of us have kids at home.”
Carriker also noted this was not the first ride held in Autumn’s honor; hundreds also attended a procession last year for her funeral.
“That year we actually got a bunch of bikes together and rode to the funeral home and this is the one-year anniversary of her death, so we came together to raise money for bullying and kids’ mental health awareness.”
Carriker continued, “It can happen anywhere and I can’t imagine what a parent would go through dealing with this, so I would hope that any tragedy like that would happen that everyone would come together to support.”
“Real good turnout. We’re glad to be a part of it,” added Paxton.
In honor of Autumn, the community turned grief into action.