The brAvery Foundation®

The brAvery Foundation®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was created in 2015 by its Founder and President, Carol Kost Cantor, to honor the legacy of her daughter, Avery. A gifted honor student, athlete, award-winning editor, and peer leader. Avery was perceived by others as the girl who 'had it all'. But, in May 2014, Avery lost her young life to the demons of depression. She was only 17 years old.

Devastated and grieving, Carol searched for effective ways to prevent youth suicide so that others would not have to 'walk in her shoes'. She soon learned that suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24 and that, as a result, there are severe shortages of trained medical professionals available to treat at-risk children. With a determination to change these sobering statistics and a firm conviction that no child should lose his/her life to suicide because they can't get treatment, Carol created The brAvery Foundation®.

Since then, the all-volunteer board/staff of The brAvery Foundation® has been working to raise scholarship funds for critically-needed mental health providers and by legislative advocacy and community awareness efforts. Due to the many donations received we were able to provide two $5,000 scholarships in 2020. The brAvery Foundation® is pleased to announce its first scholarship awards to: Washington University-William Greenleaf Eliot Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Saint Louis University-School of Social Work. We expect to provide two $5,000 scholarships in 2021 - or more as donations are received.

In 2015, Carol Cantor started advocating; both locally at the Missouri State Capitol and nationally in 2017 on Capitol Hill. Most importantly, Carol testified before the Missouri state legislators to secure legislation requiring all Missouri public school districts to create a suicide prevention training class for their educators for the 2019-2020 school year (HB No. 2379, 2016). Currently, she is again advocating legislators to support passage of HB No. 1820, an extension of HB No. 2379, which would require all Missouri public school educators and administrators to take the two-hour youth suicide prevention training class in the 2020-2021 school year. The brAvery Foundation's® suicide prevention efforts have also included participation in school and community-outreach programs such as the "Signs of Suicide" as well as the Foundation's distribution of crisis support and social services referrals both locally and through its website and Facebook page.

In loving memory of Avery Reine Cantor
1996-2014