Embracing Imperfections is a new partner with Michigan Kiwanis.  Their mission is Suicide Awareness and Prevention.  Click below to find out more about their organization and the founder Shandy Longcore’s story.  Consider Embracing Imperfections for one of your Kiwanis meetings or to speak at one of the schools in your community.

A Note from Shandy Longcore

My name is Shandy Longcore, and I have nine toes.

There. And you thought I was going to start with where I went to school or whether I enjoy reading Harper Lee.

I’m unusual. And I’m really starting to embrace it. Hopefully for all the right reasons.

I grew up in the town of Kalkaska, which sounds like the call of a bird. Which is perhaps fitting, because I have been listening for clues my whole adult life – and how I might use them to help others.

I am a survivor – of school, sports, awkward dances, crummy jobs, melanoma – and attempted suicide.

I thank God every day for how I botched that last one, and I’m pretty confident my husband Bill and our two boys – Brennan and Cameron – do, too.

(Shandy Longcore is a graduate of Aquinas College and competed on a national level in both track and basketball. Her last job was serving Rockford MVP Athletic Club as its director. She now speaks on behalf of suicide awareness and prevention. Her laugh is absolutely infectious.)

To register for the Youth Summit on Suicide presented by Michigan Kiwanis and Embracing Imperfections, scan one of the QR codes shown above with the camera on your smartphone OR select one of the links listed below:

High School
Middle School
Support Staff