Mid Louth: Black Tie Event raises €18,000 for SAFE Castlebellingham

SAFE (Suicide Awareness For Everyone) Castlebellingham held a fundraising Black Tie Event at Bellingham Castle on Friday night raising an incredible €18,000.

Set up in September 2022, SAFE provides free confidential counselling service immediately to people in the locality and surrounds. 

The service was set up by Patrick and Sandra Byrne in the wake of a number of tragedies in the village.

Thanks to a local corporate sponsor who doesn’t wish to be named the group have recently secured a campervan to provide a mobile unit for counselling sessions to take place.

The mobile unit will be visiting all the local villages regularly to raise awareness about the service and to start the conversation in particular to normalise therapy and looking for help

The Black Tie Event was hailed as a fantastic success with 200 people attending. 

There was an auction and raffle raising much needed funds.  

Next on the agenda for SAFE will be a barn dance and sponsored walks in the summer.

PRO of the group Karen Dowling told the Democrat that the service is available to anyone not just people from Castlebellingham, with two registered counsellors available for anybody who needs to talk.

They can be reached at:

Les : 086 254 4785

Lynn : 0871514976

SAFE stresses that:

“We won't know who rang, why they rang or how many times they rang.  Your call is 100% confidential between you and the counsellor.”

“We've all heard the phrase, "There's light at the end of the tunnel."

“For some, the tunnel is very long, and there may be a bend, so the light at the end is not visible. This is a terribly lonely and frightening place to be.

“There should be no need for someone to feel so desperate that they take their own life. We need to do what we can now and provide this service.”