Please Live started with a caring teenager who saw a need in the world and decided to address it. As a child, Alexa Moody struggled with depression, which eventually lead to thoughts of suicide as a teenager. She received help and recovered, deciding then to go to college for Human Services. During the 2009-2010 school year, while she was a 19-year-old college student, there was a cluster of suicides within her community. Just minutes outside of Pennsylvania’s capital, Alexa heard of five teen suicides within the course of five months. She was heartbroken. Although she did not personally know any of the teens, her heart was torn for the friends and families left behind (known as suicide loss survivors). It was from this hurt and her personal experiences of depression and recovery that Alexa heard God’s voice telling her to do something about it.
Armed with a broken heart and a message from God, Alexa started Please Live in May 2010. Her efforts were quickly noticed within the midstate as she networked with local prevention powerhouses such as Holy Spirit Teenline, the Mental Wellness Awareness Association, Someone To Tell It To, and the local chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The first board of directors was elected in 2012, and Please Live received it’s 501(c)3 nonprofit status in April of 2014.
After the drastic changes in the educational landscape caused by the COVID19 pandemic, Please Live shifted gears and moved from a 501c3 to a grant fund managed by The Foundation for Enhancing Communities in 2024. Through TFEC, the Please Live fund continues to address suicide prevention by helping to fund worthy projects that get students involved in their mental health and wellness.
