In the early morning hours of August 14, 2019, the body of my 16-year-old grandson was found. He had taken his life by suicide.

Over the next few weeks we discovered cyber bullying and other things happening that we were not aware of including friends saying they knew he was in a dark place.

After speaking with parents of the kids he went to school with we found out that there are no programs in our area to address kids with depression. We also found that from the parent standpoint there were many things like access to his phone that a parent is not entitled to.

My daughter and I decided to establish Ian’s Way, Inc. a 501c3 non-profit to combat teen suicide in our area. The grant along with much fundraising that we are doing will enable us to pay mental health professionals necessary to accomplish our goals.

Donations from the Family Bonds Foundation made this grant possible and will help us to save at least one teen life and a family from going through what we do every day.