After months of preparation and hard work, the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) team in Aberdeen held a Charity Fundraising event on Friday, October 7 to raise awareness of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention at Pittodrie the home of Aberdeen Football Club.
Speaking on behalf of the MHFA team Angela and Mary state “These charities mean so much to us as earlier this year we lost very dear friends due to suicide brought on by Mental Health issues, and we knew we had to do something to raise awareness, being part of the MHFA Team, it was our duty and honour to do so.
“Never did we imagine that we would get the response we did not only from participants, customers and local businesses who gave donations/raffle prizes.”
During the evening we were approached by lots of people who felt confident to talk about the struggles they were having or have faced in the past, some even spoke to our charity leaders for advice and help. Our hope for the evening was not only to raise money but to get people talking about Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and we can say we did that. As we said when we started this if we could help just one person and get people talking then we have done the right thing and we have done that for sure.
The Event took the form of a quiz hosted by Kongsberg’s very own Quiz Master Alan McMillan and dancing to a local band. It was attended by 250 participants and raised a staggering £6888 for our chosen charities SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) and Aberdeen Community Trust. We hope to hold an event like this every 2 years.
