Welcome to our journey!
We are so glad that you found us and we would love to tell you a little bit more about our organization!
The SnacPac4L Foundation was started in April of 2023. Our story actually began in October of 2021. It was on Oct 13th, 2021 that we discovered that our son, Jake Haas, had made the tragic decision to end his life. We were devastated, shattered and heartbroken. We had so many questions that would never be answered. However, in the midst of our tragedy, we had community. From the first moments, we were surrounded by people who loved us, cared for us, and kept us in survival mode.
From the earliest moments of our tragedy, we felt compelled to do something. We knew we weren’t alone in our situation. We knew mental health was a serious condition, but I’m not sure we knew just how serious at the time. We knew we had to heal. Over time, we reached a point when we had enough strength to move forward and do something. If we were going to do something, we were going to do it 100%.
Fast forward to February of 2023. I was ready to start researching what it would take to start a Foundation. To my surprise and almost with ease, two months later the SnacPac4L Foundation was started.
Many have asked about the name! Jacob had been a part of a group of friends who had known each other since elementary school. As they all started to get older and getting cell phones, they started a chat group. They added friends to the chats over the years. We would hear Jake and his buddies, on their video game headsets, laughing and making all kinds of noise, many times very late into the evenings! At some point, in middle school, one of the group members suggested the SnacPac group chat name-allegedly derived from the Hunts Snack pack pudding cups!
These would be his best friends throughout high school and beyond. They went their separate ways, but the SnacPac4L remained. We felt like it was appropriate to honor Jake in this way, as well as his friends and other members of the original SnacPac-many of whom were just as devastated as we were.
We hope that you will consider walking alongside us in our journey. We are committed to changing the narrative of the mental health story. We are committed to changing the stigmas associated with mental health. We are committed to doing anything that we can to aid in the efforts of suicide prevention. We firmly believe that “You Matter” and that everyone has a story that is not over.
