Editor, Gazette-Journal:

On behalf of the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board, I would like to express our sincere appreciation and immense gratitude to Emilie Smith for the amazing work she is doing on increasing community awareness about teen depression and suicide. Through her multiple fundraising efforts, Emilie successfully raised $7,080 that she donated to the MPNN CSB Prevention, Health and Wellness Division for suicide prevention awareness initiatives. In Emilie’s own words below, this is how and why she did it:

“Emilie Smith and Annie Bray are both competing in the 2017 Urbanna Oyster Festival to become Queen and Spat. When a teenage girl becomes a rising senior in high school, she chooses a rising first grader to be her Spat. A Spat is a baby oyster hence the oyster queen and her spat.

“As a queen contestant, you are required to choose a community service project to do all spring and summer. Emilie chose to raise awareness for teenage ...