Community For Hope

Executive Director  

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Mary VanHaute

Thank you for perusing our website.  We hope you have found useful information about suicide prevention and intervention.  It is a privilege to lead a group of dedicated individuals who founded and sustain the mission of this organization.  They have made great strides in education and prevention in the Oshkosh Community and in our state.

My vocation is in teaching and counseling.  I’ve been employed at NWTC in Green Bay for over 25 years as both an instructor and a counselor.  I earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Education from UW-Eau Claire and my Master’s Degree in Adult Education from UW-Stout.  I then completed an EdS. Degree in Counseling from UW-Stout.  My volunteer work includes ministry at my church and being the support coordinator for the organization WI COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors).  In this role, I assist families of police officers killed in the line of duty as they journey on a unique road of grief.  Both my husband and I, along with our two daughters, began volunteering for them back in 1986.

No amount of education or experience could have prepared me, though, for what happened the morning of May 20, 1994—a beautiful spring morning when my brother made the choice to end his life.  Like many of you, I live with the never-ending questions and the ache in my heart.  Yet I continue to tell people that I am not ashamed of my brother.  I am not proud of what he did, but I cannot be ashamed. I’d much rather speak about his life than his death, but I do talk about how he died with a two-fold message.  First, to emphasize the depth and breadth of this national epidemic.  How can we begin to solve a problem if we don’t know the scope of the problem?  And secondly, to stress to people that suicide is never a solution to any problem. 

Please feel free to contact me or any Board member if you have concerns or questions about CFH.  We welcome your input and would be happy to have you join us in the mission.