NEPA Scene Staff

To Write Love on Her Arms founder to speak for free at Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on April 18

To Write Love on Her Arms founder to speak for free at Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on April 18
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From a press release:

It was announced today that Jamie Tworkowski, founder of the popular nonprofit organization To Write Love on Her Arms, will bring his message of hope to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Monday, April 18 at 7 p.m.

Established in 2006, To Write Love on Her Arms is a nonprofit group dedicated to helping those who suffer from depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicidal tendencies find hope, support, and love.

“We have long felt that the TWLOHA message is a powerful one, and quite honestly, a necessary one within our community,” said Will Beekman, executive director of the Kirby Center.

“When the opportunity to bring Jamie to town presented itself, we had to take advantage of it.”

To ensure that Tworkowski’s message is available to everyone, the Kirby Center is offering the program free of charge.

Tickets for this program will be available via the Kirby Center box office beginning Monday, Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. and will be limited to four tickets per person. For more information, stop by or call the Kirby box office (71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre) at 570-826-1100.

TWLOHA began as a simple attempt to tell the story of a friend in need of treatment, and soon became an Internet phenomenon and global movement. In order to fund his friend’s treatment for substance abuse, Tworkowski posted a blog on MySpace and began selling t-shirts.

Supported by the bands Switchfoot, Anberlin and Paramore, TWLOHA soon became widely recognized within the music world, and its message was spread across towns and cities all over the world.

In 2010, Mashable named TWLOHA the “Must-Follow Non-Profit,” and in 2011, the organization was awarded $1 million from the American Giving Awards. In 2015, a film based on the nonprofit organization was released, as was Tworkowski’s New York Times bestselling book, “If You Feel Too Much: Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For.”

TWLOHA became inspirational speaker Tworkowski’s life’s work after learning the sobering statistics that two out of three people with depression do not get help and that the third leading cause of death among 18-24-year-olds is suicide.

Each night, Tworkowski shares his vision of hope, reminding students, “You are not alone and this is not the end of your story.”