Hey, it's Meghna, and the other day it occurred to me that the irony of our mini never quit campaign

is that the campaign itself must come to an end.

So instead of me asking you to support Onpoint today, I'm going to give the last word to one of the

journalists who makes the show. Hi, I'm on point producer Jonathan Chang.

What's it like producing an hour of the show?

In 2022, we did a show about the rising mental health crisis among children of color.

Research at the time found that for Americans between the ages of 5 and 12,

the suicide rate for black children is nearly double that of white children and a pandemic

was making things worse. To tell that story we wanted to hear from parents who

experienced that loss. Over the next few days I look for phone

numbers, emails, social media profiles, anything I can find to try and reach out

to these parents. For days I got nothing but I persisted and followed up

pleading with them and reminding them of the power that their stories have. Then the

morning before the live show I got a call from a phone

number that I didn't recognize. Is this Jonathan? The voice said. This is

Tammy Charles.

Tammy was one of the first people I had reached out to. In 2019, she had lost her 10-year-old son to suicide.

After about a week of thinking things over, Tammy decided to say yes to my request.

She said that she'd received my messages,

and that she could tell that I cared and wanted to tell the story the right way.

We spoke on the phone for the next hour and the next day Tammy joined on point

to share her story with you.

...