John’s leaflet campaign to fight suicide
WEXFORD MAN HAS ARRANGED FOR 10,000 LEAFLETS TO BE SENT OUT
TEN THOUSAND leaflets urging people to call for help rather than think about suicide are to delivered throughout Wexford town over the next couple of weeks.
‘ This leaflet could save your life or the life of somebody you know. PLEASE KEEP IT,’ is the simple message on the leaflets, which carry the names and contact details for 10 organisations which are pledged to providing help to people contemplating suicide.
The leaflets are the brainchild of 44-year-old Wexford man John Broaders, from Talbot Green, who was sickened at the rash of suicides. If he gets enough support, the leaflet campaign will go countywide.
John said that he sat down last week and wrote a list of the names of the people he knew who had committed suicide in and around Wexford and by the time he completed it there were 40 names on it, most of them from the past 10 to 15 years and ‘some going back to when I was a child’.
He said companies and individuals he contacted to help him, all immediately came on board.
They are Lani Walker, of Walker Leaflet Distribution, graphic designer Ken Daly, from Barntown, C and R Print. in Enniscorthy, and Lee Gabbett, from Atlantis Seafoord, all of who donated their services free.
‘You won’t see me on Dragon’s Den, I’m surprised no-one thought of it before,’ said John, a truck driver who works as a voluntary steward at Wexford Park.
While the initial print run is for 10,000 leaflets, he was aiming to get many thousands more printed as long as he could win more support.
‘Even one death through suicide is too much and if we have to print a million leaflets and just one phone call is made which saves a life, job done,’ he said.
‘I was up until 4.30 a.m. this morning, replying to all the messages of support I have received,’ said John, married to Cassandra, with a 19-year-old son Dillon, a student at NUI, Galway.
He said there were many pressures on people which could lead to suicide with financial and relationhip issues key among them.
‘But I can’t get my head around why people can’t look for help. We all get depressed, but it’s not something to be embarrased about. These leaflets are little pieces of paper which could be stuck on fridge doors.. they could save lives,’ he said.
‘Suicide is a huge problem in Ireland. You hear about people killed in car crashes on the national news, but you never hear about suicides and there are probably more people being killed by suicide than on our roads.’ John has appealed to people with ‘No Junk Mail’ on their letterboxes to allow the deliveries to take place at their homes.
EVEN ONE DEATH THROUGH SUICIDE IS TOO MUCH. IF WE HAVE TO PRINT A MILLION LEAFLETS WHICH SAVES A LIFE, JOB DONE