GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – A Colorado nonprofit is working to create a custom license plate that would raise money for suicide memorials and youth mental health programs.
The Suicide Loss Memorial Foundation, founded in 2024, is pushing for approval of a license plate reading “Rocky Mountain Strong”. The organization helps communities heal after suicide loss by remembering loved ones and bringing people together.
Nicole Arellano-Forget of Greeley, Colorado, started the foundation after losing her father to suicide in 2014.
“It’s very sudden, very traumatic. So when you lose someone, it’s kind of like they just disappear, vanish, kind of, there’s no, there’s no closure,” Arellano-Forget said.
Finding healing through a memorial
After her father’s death, Arellano-Forget and her siblings pooled money through a GoFundMe to build a memorial bench at his favorite park in Bismarck, North Dakota…