Woman Pulls Casket 80-Miles To Raise Awareness of Mental Illness

A woman is walking 80 miles while pulling a casket from her New Jersey home to the state capitol. Greta Schwartz is on her three-leg journey to raise awareness of mental health issues, including suicide and addiction. She set out Monday and plans to arrive Wednesday. The 48-year-old has a backpack of water and is storing food in the wheeled wooden casket that she is pulling behind her. The coffin has a strap which she has fastened to her waist. It also bears the names of about 70 people to whom Schwartz had a personal connection, who have killed themselves. She told the Associated Press, "I can't just sit around. This is happening. I have over 70 names. That's just people I have a connection with. Not even strangers." She said her son knew two students at Ocean City High School who killed themselves in 2014 and 2015. About a dozen people came out of their homes along a residential stretch during her walk, shared their stories involving suicide and wrote their loved ones' names on the casket.