There is still time to register and take part in the Darkness into Light event tomorrow in Rivervalley, Swords.
The fundraiser for Pieta House starts at 4.15am on Saturday morning at the Rivervalley Community Centre.
Participants will walk a 5km route through the Ward River Valley as the dawn breaks.
Last year – which was the inaugural year for Darkness Into Light Swords – the local event raised more than €29,000 with more than 2,000 participants.
“We want to make this year bigger and better”, said Paul Gibney, one of the coordinators of the Swords event.
“Our community, like many others around the country, has been sadly impacted by suicide and bereavement. We’re organising this event in memory of loved ones we’ve lost, but also as a way of raising awareness for anyone considering suicide or self-harm that there are support services available.
“We want to raise much needed funds in order to keep these important services going because they’ve helped thousands of people in recent years and without them we’d have lost many more people,” added Gibney.
“Funding from the Darkness Into Light event goes directly to Pieta’s services which enables them to continue providing free-of-charge suicide prevention, intervention and bereavement support to people of all ages across Ireland.
In 2022 alone, Pieta delivered over 50,000 hours of free, one-to-one therapy, and helped over 6,500 clients nationwide. The 24/7 crisis helpline received almost 100,000 calls and texts and supported close to 700 households bereaved by suicide.
Almost 35% of clients presenting to Pieta in 2022 were aged between 18-35 years and a further 36% of clients in the same year were under 18.
Anyone who wishes to register can go to www.darknessintolight.ie and select the Swords Rivervalley event.
