Nenagh all set for Darkness Into Light this Saturday
By Brendan Murphy
The Darkness into Light team have been busy working away behind the scenes in preparation for this year’s event which takes place this coming Saturday, May 11, at 4.15am.
The event, which takes place all over the world, is the main fundraising event for Pieta house.
The organisation first opened its doors in 2006 and since then has helped over 70,000 people who were in suicidal distress or engaging in self-harm.
Pieta House now operates from 20 locations across Ireland and employs over 300 therapists and support staff as the demand for services continues to grow.
In 2022 Pieta delivered over 50,000 hours of intervention and bereavement counselling and received over 100,000 crisis support calls and texts through their 24-hour freephone helpline. In addition to this the organisation directly supported over 700 households devastated by the loss of a loved one by suicide.
Pieta House would not be able to continue their services without your help.
In addition to this, the Darkness Into Light event is extremely special because it shows the great community spirit and unity that we have as we walk united in the fight against suicide and self-harm.
I really feel that the awareness that is raised from this event is more powerful that we can imagine - if by walking together and showing people that they are not alone helps one single person in our community, that in itself is a great achievement.
We are all familiar with the horrific statistics of the numbers of those who we have lost to suicide.
What we don’t know are the numbers of those who we have saved. I believe that this number is far higher.
REGISTRATION DAY
The Darkness Into Light team held their open registration day on Saturday last, May 4, from 11am to 3pm to raise awareness for the event and to also allow people to preregister for the event which takes place this Saturday morning May 11 at 4.15am. The day was a massive success.
We had a great location at the former Cici’s shop unit on Pearse St where we saw great footfall and experienced great engagement from the people of Nenagh in support of this year’s event.
The star of the day was the DIL Nenagh mascot ‘Elmo’ - our own Fiona Ryan in disguise who proved to be a massive hit with both young and old on the streets on Nenagh.
If you have not registered for the walk but wish to take part don’t worry - you can register on the morning of the walk and take part in this great community event.
We would encourage everyone to join us at 4.15am and walk the 5km as a community and united in the fight against suicide and self-harm and help raise awareness and show those who might be going through a personal crisis that they are not alone; we are in this together, and help is here.