Share
Lifestyle & Human Interest

Woman Rents Billboard To Encourage People Struggling After Losing Father to Suicide

Share

In just one day, 17-year-old Nicole Leth went from an eager high school student anticipating graduation to a grief-stricken, confused teenager mourning the death of her father.

Leth, now 26, has spent nearly a decade navigating a hard road of grief and healing, and has emerged determined to make a positive difference in the world.

The artist and writer living in Kansas City, Missouri, is using public billboards as a way to encourage and affirm people in her community.

“I’m trying to make a difference in the world, in our communities, and in the hearts of people hurting — one billboard at a time,” Leth wrote on her Patreon crowdfunding platform.

The pink billboard displays four short sentences that Leth hopes will empower people to persevere through hard times, feel encouraged, and may even prevent suicide:

Trending:
Prince Harry Named in Major Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Rapper

“You are human. You are loveable. You are strong. You are enough.”

The suicide of her father, Richard, was the catalyst for Leah’s affirming work, which she first explored through her creativity in art and literature.

“It launched me on this trajectory of wanting to do things that matter to people and have positive output to what I created with my artwork and writing,” Leth told TODAY.

“I realized over the years I could never save someone’s life for them, but I could create an encouraging and affirmative space to empower them to save their own life.”

Leth, who saved up the money to run her first billboard for one month, had been fundraising to keep the billboard up and running in Kansas City.

Related:
Air Force Officer Makes History at 2024 Miss America Pageant: 'The Sky Is Not the Limit'

Since her billboard’s design has gone viral, Leth said the owner of the billboard contacted her with a generous offer to keep the billboard running free of charge for “the foreseeable future.”

Encouraged, Leth has sent her artwork on to others, who plan to place similar billboards in their own cities in Canada, Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Texas.

Already, the billboard’s message has proven to be helpful and welcome in her community.

“The reaction has been unbelievable and heartfelt and overwhelmingly positive,” Leth said.

“I have been receiving lots of emails from people who said it mattered, or they saw it and had a terrible day and didn’t think they could survive, and without knowing the story of the billboard, they said it let them live one more day.”



Leth knows her father would love the work she is doing.

“He truly had the same heart as me and he always felt things so intensely. We’d always go on these cross country road trips and have the deepest conversations about life and people and love,” she said. “He was the first person who taught me how to make beauty out of hard things.”

“There are a lot of people hurting in the world right now, and I hope that this makes a difference, even if just a little bit,” she wrote on Patreon. “The greatest, wholehearted transformations start first with radical healing and acceptance of what is.”

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , ,
Share
A graduate of Grand Canyon University, Kim Davis has been writing for The Western Journal since 2015, focusing on lifestyle stories.
Kim Davis began writing for The Western Journal in 2015. Her primary topics cover family, faith, and women. She has experience as a copy editor for the online publication Thoughtful Women. Kim worked as an arts administrator for The Phoenix Symphony, writing music education curriculum and leading community engagement programs throughout the region. She holds a degree in music education from Grand Canyon University with a minor in eating tacos.
Birthplace
Page, Arizona
Education
Bachelor of Science in Music Education
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Lifestyle & Human Interest




Conversation