PERRY, Utah — Every Sunday, you can find Nikki and Jason Jacobson at the Rusted Spoon Restaurant enjoying the homecooked-style food and remembering their son, Mason.
"Every single night he'd come upstairs give me a side hug and tell me he loved me," Nikki said.
Mason died by suicide last year when he was in 9th grade, but his family and the community still feel his aura as if he was here.
"Our son didn't like cemeteries — he never went, we never go — so we had him cremated, which was great for us and the family, but we found out that doesn't always give people somewhere to go," Jason said.
The Jacobsons wanted to find a unique way to honor Mason and allow those who loved him to remember him, so they decided to collect donations to build a bench outside the restaurant where he loved to work.
"We asked the owners if we could build a bench in his name to put here so people could come and sit and talk to him and have somewhere to go," Jason said. "We always wanted to make it out of skateboards because he loved skateboarding."
The Rusted Spoon owner, Morgan Rallison, and Mason's former co-worker, Cassidy Sterrett, say they're excited for the bench and how it will allow them to honor Mason's memory.
"I remember his last day he stayed late with me and helped me buss all my tables," Sterrett said. "We talked about skateboarding he told me he was going to learn a new trick.
"The reason we have it out here and want it out here is so everyone remembers Mason and what happened to him, and we prevent it from happening to other people," Rallison said.
Skateboards for the bench have been donated across the state and country, but the ones closest to his family's heart are the ones from Mason's friends — each with small notes.
This bench is just the beginning for the Jacobsons. Their mission is to help more families through the creation of a foundation.
"We would like to be able to accept donations to be able to donate benches in memory of children who have lost their lives, parents that have lost, communities that are devastated over teen suicides," Jacon said. "Kids and teens aren't going to go visit a cemetery on their own, so if they had somewhere to go to sit, talk and share memories, it would really help."
"If we can save one more kid's life, save a family from what we're going through, that kind of would be the best way to honor him. I know that's what he would want," Nikki said.
Anyone who wants to donate a skateboard to support the Jacobsons in their mission can bring it by the Rusted Spoon in Perry or contact Mason's mom, Nikki Jacobson, on Facebook.
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For those struggling with thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can now be reached by simply dialing 988 any time for free support. Resources are also available online at utahsuicideprevention.org.
