Send Silence Packing:
A Suicide Awareness and Prevention Exhibit
A National Initiative of Active Minds
Bringing Send Silence Packing to Your Campus – A Guide for Hosts
Program Overview ………………………………………………………………………... P. 2
Program Impact ..……………………………………………………………….…………. P. 2
What Active Minds Will Provide ..……………………………………………….……... P. 3
Timing .…………………….…………………………………………...………...………… P. 3
What Your Campus Must Provide ..……………………………………………..……… P. 3
Funding .……………………………………………………………………………....……. P. 3
Space .……………………...…………………………………………………………….….. P. 4
Equipment ……….………………………………………………………………………… P. 4
Volunteers ………………………………….………………………………….…...……… P. 4
Additional Programming …………………………………………..….…….…...……… P. 4
Appendix A: Impact Data ...…………………………………………………….…....…... P. 6
© This guide and content is copyrighted by Active Minds and cannot be reproduced without permission.
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PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Send Silence Packing is a national public education display of 1,100
donated backpacks, representing the 1,100 college students who die by suicide each year.
The program is an award-winning initiative from Active Minds, Inc. to promote a dialogue
about mental health on college campuses and to combat the incidence of student suicide. Since
2008, the display has traveled to 29 cities in 18 states across the country.
Active Minds continues to collect backpacks and personal stories written in memory or in honor
of loved ones. By adding personalized stories to the backpacks, we are putting a ‘face' to lives
lost to suicide. Send Silence Packing carries the message that preventing suicide is not just about
lowering statistics, but also about saving the lives of students, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters
and friends.
During September and October of 2011, Send Silence Packing will be visiting college campuses
and communities throughout California.
To learn more about Send Silence Packing, visit: www.ActiveMinds.org/SendSilencePacking.
To read about the displays travels and impact visit: www.SendSilencePacking.org.
PROGRAM IMPACT: Send Silence Packing is a powerful, interactive display that opens minds,
raises awareness and educates the public about student suicide. We are currently in the process
of determining how to best capture and convey the full impact of the program to all. For now,
anecdotal testimony from individuals who visited the Send Silence Packing display– such as the
two notes below – help us demonstrate the program’s value.
During the 2010 display in Chicago, IL a passerby wrote a note in the public Send Silence Packing
journal that read, “Thanks for saving my life.” After the display visited Montclair State University
(NJ) during the fall of 2010, a student left behind a simple drawing of the Active Minds logo and
a backpack, with the words: “Seeing how much they miss YOU, made me see how much they’d miss
ME. Thank you.”
Program evaluation data reveals that most individuals leave the display wanting to learn more
about mental health. Our evaluations also show that visitors often tell three or more people
about Send Silence Packing and that many reach out to a friend in need or seek help for
themselves as a result of seeing the program.
See Appendix A for a more detailed summary of impact data from program surveys.
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WHAT ACTIVE MINDS WILL PROVIDE IF YOUR CAMPUS HOSTS SEND SILENCE
PACKING: Active Minds, Inc. will work closely with your college and your Active Minds
chapter to ensure that Send Silence Packing is a success on your campus. We will provide
guidance based on our previous experience with highly successful displays.
Active Minds will also provide program-planning materials such as an Event Planning
Checklist, Programming Recommendations, Media Kit, Volunteer Guide with
recommendations for volunteer recruitment and instructions for volunteers, Sample Event
Flyers, Funding recommendations and more.
We will provide the materials, equipment, staff and resources needed for the display itself. The
program travels with two Active Minds’ Send Silence Packing staff members who manage,
coordinate and lead all aspects of the display the day of the program. The program includes
1,100 backpacks, approximately 350 of which have personal stories, pictures and messages
attached. Active Minds will also provide:
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All necessary signage (two 8x6’ banners displayed with above-ground banner stands,
educational lawn signs, as well as additional ground and table signs)
1,000+ educational flyers to distribute to those who pass by the exhibit
Program buttons as giveaways
T-shirts for volunteers
Two display tables with educational resources on mental health, suicide, the suicide
prevention lifeline and information for survivors
An interactive advocate pledge banner to be signed by participants and given to the exhibit
host following the program
A program journal that travels with the exhibit and provides space for interactive reflection
Multicolored mental health bracelets for purchase/donation, which allow individuals
interacting with the exhibit to indicate how they connect with the issue (e.g. supporter,
survivor)
Timing: Send Silence Packing is an all day program. The staff, truck and backpacks arrive at
8am. Set up requires 1-1.5hrs. The display typically runs 10-4pm. Take down requires 1-1.5hrs.
The fall 2011 Tour displays will take place between late August and October.
WHAT YOUR CAMPUS MUST PROVIDE TO HOST SEND SILENCE PACKING:
Funding: To bring Send Silence Packing to your campus it will cost your campus $5,000. The
expense breakdown is as follows:
 Renting, storing and transporting the truck and 1,100 backpacks: $1,450
 Program Materials such as educational flyers and resources, banners, volunteer t-shirts and
program giveaways: $1,500
 Staffing and travel accommodations: $1,250
 Project Management by Active Minds Inc.: $800
In addition, you may need to secure additional funding to cover any of the items below, which
you must provide to host Send Silence Packing.
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Space: Finding a great location for Send Silence Packing is typically the most important element
for success. The more traffic that naturally passes by a location, the better that location is for the
display.
Send Silence Packing requires reserving a large, highly trafficked outdoor space as well as a
visible, trafficked indoor location in case of inclement weather. For the outdoor location, the
display is typically held on a campus’ main quad, hill or open-public area. An ideal location
will be centralized on campus, visually appeasing and eye-catching. Is there a place with a nice
view, an area where all students pass during their day on their way to and from class, a wellknown monument on campus, a nice field with flowering trees or a location with classic,
colligate buildings? Outdoors, the space must be at least 70x70ft (about ¼ of a football field) to
accommodate the 1,100 backpacks, which will be spread out across the area.
Additionally and equally important to securing an outdoor location, is reserving space indoors
in case of inclement weather. For indoor locations, we do not recommend reserving a room that
attendees will need to enter to see the display. As with your outdoor location, finding a place
with significant, natural traffic and flow of people throughout the day is the most important key
to success. Finding a large space is ideal, but the backpacks can be contained in a smaller space
indoors to prioritize finding an area with traffic. If you reserve a smaller space indoors, we
recommend also reserving several coat racks or other items, which can be used to prop
backpacks up and display them at multiple heights and levels so as to minimize the area needed
on the floor.
Arrangements must also be made to park the Send Silence Packing 14-foot-long box truck during
the day, and a space reserved to unload the backpacks in the morning and reload them at the
end of the day. The truck unloading and loading zone must be as close to the display as is
possible and plans must be made for truck parking, unloading and reloading for both (indoor
and outdoor) potential display locations.
Equipment: Depending on the type of supplementary programming you organize to
accompany Send Silence Packing, sound equipment may be needed. Six-foot display tables and
chairs are also likely needed for your partnering organizations and planned activities.
Volunteers: The program runs best and most smoothly with a large number of volunteers.
Typically 30-40 volunteers are needed for each display. Volunteers assist (in shifts) with set-up
and take down, running the display (handing out flyers, educating students, staffing the
information and activity tables) and recruiting people to view the display by distributing flyers
in other locations around campus. At a minimum, 8 volunteers are needed for set-up
(approximately 8:00-10:00am) and take-down (approximately 4-6pm) and 4 volunteers are
needed for each two-hour shift throughout the day (10-12, 12-2, 2-4). We request that you
provide food (meals and/or snacks) for Send Silence Packing volunteers and staff.
Programming: A representative from Active Minds will work closely with you to coordinate the
logistics and programming to accompany the Send Silence Packing display on your campus.
Prior hosts have found that partnering with organizations and key players on campus
significantly increases the program impact, success and recognition. We request that you
involve your campus Counseling Center and that they have a presence at the display. In
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addition to the Counseling Center, many campuses have successfully involved and received
funding from campus administrators and benefited from involving many student groups (from
fraternities and sororities to other service and social justice organizations). There may also be
exciting opportunities to involve and partner with other nearby Active Minds chapters, as well
as local mental health groups and agencies. Previous supplemental programming run by host
Active Minds chapters has included guest speakers, background music, spoken word, a flash
mob, honor beads, art projects, wellness walks and more. We look forward to hearing your
creative ideas and working with you to determine what will work best on your campus.
We look forward to working with you and bringing critical mental health education and
suicide awareness to your campus through Send Silence Packing.
For more information, please contact:
Sara Abelson | Program Director, Active Minds | [email protected] | 734.945.5607
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APPENDIX A:
A survey of a sample (n=383) of those who witnessed the display in various locations across the
U.S. reveals:
Send Silence Packing is powerful, educational, and raises awareness.
 91% of participants found the display powerful or very powerful.
 81% of participants found the display to be educational.
In the words of participants:
 “To me it felt as if a thousand students were standing in that field asking us to look hard and take note
of this terrible tragedy”
 “The backpacks made the people who have committed suicide very real. It made the issue more real to
me than it had ever been.”
 “The display makes me remember that 1,100 is not simply a number, but each one of those numbers is
a living, breathing person with family and friends. It's easy to forget that.”
Send Silence Packing starts a dialogue and encourages help seeking:
 85% of participants talked to others about the display after seeing it. The majority of
participants talked to three or more friends, family members or others about the program.
 Half of participants said the display increased their interest in learning more about mental
health and an additional 36% said it somewhat did
 One third of participants said the display encouraged them to reach out to a friend and an
additional 25% said the display somewhat encouraged them to reach out to a friend
 11% reported that the display encouraged them to seek help for themselves, 14% said it
somewhat encouraged them to seek help for themselves (39% of respondents who said the
question was applicable to them said the display at least somewhat encouraged them to seek
help for themselves).
In the words of participants:
 “It showed me that even though people have issues and problems that they might not understand that
there is always someone who you can talk to about your issues and they will help you get through
them and become stronger.”
 “I actually called a friend that same night who has been struggling for a long time and has made
reference to suicide before... I called to see how he was doing and I asked him directly if was thinking
about taking his life. His voice seemed lighter after we talked, I think just to know that someone
cared.”
 “I learned that reaching out to people is the best way to not only get to know them but to save a life
one at a time”
 “The display made it easier for me to talk with peers about my experience with my two attempts.”
 “As strange as this sounds, thank you for existing. As someone who has struggled with depression, I
understand how "hush hush" the whole mental health issue is. However, that needs to change and I
LOVE that you all are promoting that.”
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