| “I’m not going to let people forget about him. Not only was he mayor, he gave so much to the community,” Alex Zinz said about Charlie McDaniel, the late Sugarcreek mayor. On September 9, 2023 McDaniel, a Marine Corps veteran, took his own life at age 50. “It sucks to say, but I don’t want anyone to forget how he died -- because mental illness is huge. There are so many people you don’t know are suffering. I mean we were his best friends and we had no idea,” Zinz said. Zinz, who considered McDaniel a second father, decided to honor him by raising money to help others who may need it. To do so, the 2023 Rocky Grove graduate turned to an area of expertise - sports. Zinz, a member of the Point Park University golf team, organized a scramble at Mt. Hope Golf Course. He hoped to raise about $3,000 for two groups, the Franklin Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Marine Corp League. Both groups that help veterans in need. To his surprise, 144 golfers signed up and through the scramble, raffles and other donations he raised $8,000 to be split evenly between the organizations. Zinz isn’t stopping there. He plans to make it an annual event and is looking into other organizations that help veterans and ad work to prevent to veteran suicides. |   |
In a 2022 report from the Department of Veterans Affairs, there were 6,146 veteran suicides, which is anaverage of nearly 17 vets taking their own life every day. The report also stated that veterans were 57% more likely to commit suicide than non-veteran adults in the United States.
Other veterans support groups report even higher numbers. Mission 22, an organization founded to raise awareness and create avenues of support for veterans suffering from mental illness, was founded based on an earlier report claiming 22 veterans took their life each day.
For Zinz, who lost his close friend, even one is too many.
He wants to do his part to spread awareness of the issue and move closer to a solution.
He is looking into setting up an LLC to be able to increase his efforts in raising both money and awareness. As of now he is planning to host another scramble next year, as well as explore ways to do even more.
“There are just so many people that you don’t know are suffering every day,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing for me… to raise awareness for that. But I also want (McDaniel’s) legacy to live on because he had an amazing spirit and was always helping others out."
Zinz said many times he would call McDaniel all hours of the night and he would always pick up. McDaniel did that for everybody. "He was that kind of a guy," Zinz said.
"The problem with Marines is they are very prideful and they don’t (outwardly) show any signs of weakness at all," he continued. "That's just the way they are and I think that just got built up over a long period of time. I had no idea this was going on with him… people fight demons every day. It built up and I don’t think he thought he could get out. I don’t want anybody to forget this. There is always a way out."
Other veterans support groups report even higher numbers. Mission 22, an organization founded to raise awareness and create avenues of support for veterans suffering from mental illness, was founded based on an earlier report claiming 22 veterans took their life each day.
For Zinz, who lost his close friend, even one is too many.
He wants to do his part to spread awareness of the issue and move closer to a solution.
He is looking into setting up an LLC to be able to increase his efforts in raising both money and awareness. As of now he is planning to host another scramble next year, as well as explore ways to do even more.
“There are just so many people that you don’t know are suffering every day,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing for me… to raise awareness for that. But I also want (McDaniel’s) legacy to live on because he had an amazing spirit and was always helping others out."
Zinz said many times he would call McDaniel all hours of the night and he would always pick up. McDaniel did that for everybody. "He was that kind of a guy," Zinz said.
"The problem with Marines is they are very prideful and they don’t (outwardly) show any signs of weakness at all," he continued. "That's just the way they are and I think that just got built up over a long period of time. I had no idea this was going on with him… people fight demons every day. It built up and I don’t think he thought he could get out. I don’t want anybody to forget this. There is always a way out."
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