This year’s Federal Way Friendship Day will host suicide awareness booths as well as community activities to promote mental health awareness.

“Saying hello or being kind can literally change the life of someone you may or may not know,” reads a city proclamation for the event.

Sharry Edwards heads the event — slated for Aug. 5 — and said it’s important for the bonding of a community. Edwards said this event is a chance for community members to reach out to one another, provide needed support and create relationships, particularly after the increase in school shootings in recent years.

“This year will have more emphasis on suicide prevention and overall friendship,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is among the top five leading causes of death among adolescents, along with cancer and heart disease.

Edwards also signed up to be a Sandy Hook Promise leader to help with outreach and awareness efforts for preventing violence in schools. She became involved in this after her children, who both attend Decatur High School, came to her with concerns about not feeling safe. She is hoping to use her position with Sandy Hook Promise for Friendship Day and Federal Way as a whole to help those struggling with mental illness and thoughts of suicide.

The Friendship Day event will include bubble stations to make giant bubbles as well as yellow long-stemmed roses, which represent friendship.

The event is a time to honor an appreciate those around us, Mayor Jim Ferrell said.

“There are a lot of people out there who need a friend,” said Ferrell.

Friendship Day originated in 1930 by Joyce Clyde Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards, which started in the 1920s.

The first Friendship Day in Federal Way was started by Nick Wilson after he lost several friends to suicide.

Wilson started Federal Way’s Friendship Day to get the community to start caring about those around them rather than just their family members.

Edwards said she and Wilson are new friends because of the event. She hopes more community members can experience the same thing. The event is sponsored by the City of Federal Way, the Mirror and others, and takes place Aug. 5 at Town Square Park, 31600 Pete von Reichbauer Way S.