On Monday, October 7th, Jackpot High School Hope Squad/Leadership students traveled to Twin Falls to visit Jae’s Place. While at Jae’s Place the students heard Jae’s story, picked out a pair of boots, and heard how The Jae’s Place Foundation came to be. The main messages the students heard were, “It’s OK not to be OK,” and “When you’re not OK, it’s OK to ask for help”. The students were then challenged to really think about what their boots mean to them, and then to reach out to at least one person that they care about and tell him/her how much he/she means to them.
Jae Bing was a child born in South Korea and adopted into the Bing family of Pinedale, Wyoming. Jae was always the fun person and the one others gravitated to. He had a very good friend named Jason. As Jason and Jae grew to adulthood, they remained very good friends. Jae ended up in Washington and Jason in Twin Falls, and their lives became very busy. Jae was struggling, but none of those closest to him were aware of his struggle. Jae’s struggle ended when he chose to take his own life. Jae’s family and friends were devastated, and Jason felt that if he would have slowed down and really listened to Jae, he may have picked up on the struggle and been able to help.
Jason was determined to create something positive out of this tragedy, and eventually The Jae’s Place Foundation was born based on the power of the boot. Jae loved being a cowboy and cowboy boots at Jae’s place became the symbol of slowing down and checking in (boot check) with those who are important to you.
This is what the power of the boot means according to The Jae’s Place Website, https://jaefoundation.com/
“Some call them Cowboy Boots, some call them Magic Boots – here at the Foundation, we call them Jae Boots. The Foundation was created with the idea that if Jae’s friend Jason had just slowed down and bought his buddy Jae a pair of Cowboy Boots (something Jae loved dearly), had a real conversation about mental health, depression and suicide, and made two commitments, things could have been different.
In a world full of technology and distractions the idea was simple. What if we took an hour out of our day to slow down and share Jae’s story, gift someone a pair of Cowboy Boots, and Check-In and see how they are ACTUALLY doing. Love them up and make some commitments. Once someone gets their Jae Boots, they serve as a reminder to check-in on those around us, be bold enough to have conversations around mental health, and even give us the strength to put our boots on and ask for help if needed.
Creating Boot-Check moments is why the Foundation exists, and the Boot is the ultimate tool to create those moments. We have heard and seen countless stories of how something so simple can do such amazing things. Some call that simple thing a Cowboy Boot, some call it a Magic Boot – here at the Foundation, we call it a Jae Boot.”
The Jae’s Place Foundation Mission “is to get as many Jae Boots to as many people as possible. Everything we do is geared to further push that mission.” They also have a high school initiative to get boots to as many high school seniors in Idaho and Wyoming as possible.
At Jackpot High School we chose to take our leaders and peer-to-peer suicide prevention trained students (Leadership/Hope Squad). Since Jackpot is neither in Idaho nor Wyoming, we needed a sponsor to cover the costs, and Woody and Cynthia Marshall stepped up with a donation that covered this visit to Jae’s Place and another visit in the future.
The Jackpot High School Students will now be striving to bring back and implement the Core Values of Jae’s Place:
Bold
Inclusion
Nimble
Generous.