DARKNESS INTO LIGHT RAISES A MASSIVE €25K FOR PIETA HOUSE
A TRULY amazing amount of money is how Pieta House has described the donation it received from Listowel’s Darkness Into Light event – as the people of North Kerry raised almost €25,000 for the suicide and self harm crisis centre.
The cheque – for €24,950.15, to be precise – was presented this week in John B Keane’s Bar, the result of another phenomenal organising effort by members of the local committee and the legion of people who came out in May to walk in the dead of night into and past the dawn.
Though a relatively new charity, Pieta House is already having a remarkable impact – as confirmed by the independent research of a team from the University of Limerick of late. Through comprehensive surveying the team found that wherever a Pieta House exists or is active the stigma that traditionally surrounded suicide in Irish culture has lessened dramatically. Possibly as a result, more and more are now seeking help and consequently finding their way through the darkness once more.
For Con O’Connor of Pieta House, the Listowel effort was fantastic.
“Listowel Darkness Into Light committee has raised nearly €25,000 in 2018, which is just a truly amazing amount of money for a very hard-working committee,” Con told The Kerryman following the presentation. It was part of a countywide effort of a similar nature.
“In 2018 there were eight Darkness Into Light walks in Kerry which raised over €148,000 for the Pieta House Centre in Kerry, and we are very grateful to all the committees around the county who work so hard for us. There are also many more fundraisers and events done all over Kerry for Pieta, and we are so lucky to have such great people supporting the work,” Con added.
The donation is extremely important to the charity as 86 per cent of its funding comes from the general public – keeping all 15 centres up and running. Every cent counts as Con explained. “Every €1,000 raised puts someone through the service, giving them up to 20 free sessions. The people and businesses in Listowel are very big supporters of Pieta in Kerry and have been since Pieta House opened its door here.”
The service has an extra ther- apist now working in the Tralee centre, since this time last year, with another new therapist set to start in January, specifically trained in working with children and teenagers. Pieta House also runs a 24-hour helpline 365 days a year, meanwhile.
“We are also hoping to get the Suicide Bereavement Liaison Officer service up and running soon, a person that will go out into the home of those recently bereaved and support them,” Con said. “The plan for the next five years is to increase significantly the number of Pieta Houses in Ireland with a lot more outreach offices in rural areas and also in-reach services where Pieta staff will go into companies and communities to talk about mental health and mental well being.”
Further good news is that the age profile of those attending Pieta House is falling: “The average age is now 19 having previously been in the mid 20s. Importantly they are coming and absolutely benefiting from the service,” Con said.