Orla Dwyer
AN EVENT in aid of the Finglas Suicide Network is being held by students in Coláiste Íde on Saturday, March 23, to raise awareness and €10,000 for the local cause.
The Suicide Awareness Finglas Event (SAFE) will have a sponsored walk, live music and speakers. It will be held from 12pm to 5pm at the Leisure Point in Coláiste Íde College of Further Education on Cardiffsbridge Road.
The Finglas Suicide Network (FSN) is a voluntary organisation that has been running since 2004. It has 10 counsellors and several volunteers helping people with mental health in the Dublin North West area.
The SAFE event is being held by 10 mature students in Coláiste Íde.
Maria McDonnell is one of the students organising the event as part of a team-working module in college. Students were asked to hold an event for a local community project and considered several options before settling on FSN.
“We discussed mental health and before the end of the class and about six of us were in tears because we realised just how much it affects everybody,” said McDonnell. “Whether it is an immediate family member, a friend, a neighbour or whoever.
“So, we found FSN and realised they were very, very underfunded. We just wanted to raise awareness and raise some funds for them and we have set a target of €10,000.”
The group has risen €1,500 so far from their gofundme webpage at gofundme.com/auwc6-safe.
There will be guest speakers from Community Awareness for Drugs, Crosscare, FSN and local TD Dessie Ellis (SF) at the event.
Live music will be provided by the Finglas Concert & Marching Band, VINCI and other local acts such as New Kind.
Plenty of food, refreshments, face painting for kids and bouncy castles are also promised on the day.
“We want to make it sort of a family-orientated day,” said McDonnell.
The students have received help and donations from local businesses such as Woodkraft Kitchens who donated €1,000 to the gofundme.
“The community spirit has been absolutely wonderful,” McDonnell added. “When people know it’s for a local organisation and it’s a well-deserved cause they help out.
“It has taken a lot of work in college. It’s great to see the enthusiasm and it’s such a big thing, mental health. It’s sort of been not talked about very well over the years.”
Chairperson of the FSN, Helena Moran, said the event will be great for raising awareness and bringing in some well-needed funding.
“We are absolutely delighted,” she said. “We are very grateful for the group holding the event because we are a voluntarily run organisation.”
The money raised will be used to help pay for basic necessities such as electricity for FSN’s base in Finglas. Moran will be attending the event along with other members of the organisation.
“Even though we have been in Finglas for a couple of years, there are still a lot of people who don’t know where we are or that we even exist,” said Moran. “Unfortunately, you don’t go looking for these places until you need them.
“Anything that is going to highlight our service to the public or anyone that we can help, we would be 100 per cent behind.”
