Abbie Crawford
Abbie's Bungee Jump
Fundraising for Samaritans
Story
The stigma to mental health taught me to be ashamed of what was going on in my life, I became two people... the person people thought I was and the person who was hiding. A lot of the time it was a war, fighting who could come out for that day or who should stay back. I've fought many battles that I feel still very ashamed to disclose. I, myself am not a person who wants to speak openly about whats going on but others are. Others are needing that attention and support. That is my inspiration to give them what they need and deserve. When at times, I needed that helping hand or somebody to listen, The Samaritans helped. They were there, they listened, they supported and most of all? Reassured me things weren't as bad as they seemed to be and that i could overcome whatever situation I may be in. This is my thank you to them for saving my life.
I woke up one morning and thought "Wow, People that are miserable and alone won't know who to go to. They won't know If they can trust or get the support they need. They might not know The Samaritans exist or they may feel like a burden. People need to know theirs always somewhere to go to., they should never feel as though theirs no place that understands and no place that won't accept you because The Samaritans do. They talk, they accept and they support you into the right direction for whats best for the individual. Maybe if more people new about The Samaritans there'd be less suicides or less people suffering in silence. Maybe the world will have a chance of hope and happiness. I want people to get the help they need and I want The Samaritans to be able to advertise themselves more and get the recognition they deserve."
The only problem with this is The Samaritans aren't well known and they rely on volunteers and fundraisers to keep the lines open- WHY? The Samaritans get NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING.
What is the Samaritans and what do they do?
Every six seconds, somebody contacts The Samaritans. Ten times a minute, they can help someone turn their life around. That’s a privilege, and a huge responsibility.
Samaritans is committed to carrying out high quality research to understand in the following areas:
- The impact of our emotional support services
- The needs of our callers
- Mental health issues, including suicide prevention
- Voluntary sector
Basically the Samaritans are there via email, phone, letter or face to face to offer support to anybody who may need it. This is one of there biggest priorities.
So, how am I going to raise awareness and money for this amazing charity?
On the run up to my Bungee Jump I will be doing a range of other fundraising and events to show this charity off and to show how much they mean to me.
Here is a list of different events to expect in the next couple of weeks to months:
- Coffee and tea mornings with a range of drinks and snacks available.
- Using community centers to host Raffles, tombola, a kitchen sale and other random things to be sold.
- Going around pubs to bucket collect.
- I will be hosting a family and friend party near to the end of the fundraising to collect any other pieces of money I can get.
- And the usual sponsorship sign sheet and this site.
- I will also be contacting the gazette to put in my personal story.
-After this is all done I will then complete my Bungee Jump.
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Every person that supports me through this and helps me achieve the best I can from it will also be supporting every other suffering person. Mental health is serious and is becoming more frequent and is a disease that needs to be recognized. People should never feel alone.
This means so much to me. Please support me into making a brighter future for anybody who needs help from the ground.
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