UCD Students’ Union have raised over €100,000 so far this year in aid of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland (YSPI). The charity receives no government funding and is reliant on drives such as this to run. Most of the funds raised were in aid of the skydive which was launched earlier this year.
581 UCD students signed up to take part in the skydive, the first group of which took place earlier this week. UCDSU have stated that they will continue to fundraise until the amount raised reaches €150,000.
As a result of the fundraising a new service will be piloted in secondary schools around the country called Free2Talk, which is YSPI’s new crisis counselling service. This would provide 50 minutes of free counselling either face to face or online. UCDSU’s fundraising efforts will also go towards providing 100 sessions of counselling a week through YSPI in secondary schools.
Around 130 third level students die by suicide each year. Alongside the skydive, events held by UCDSU to raise funds included a drag race and selling naked calendars. These were sold across campus and by SU reps, with 450 left by mid-March.
Byrne explained: “The cost of the calendars was minimal so we’ve made a substantial amount off the calendars as well. One of them being my Granny trooping out getting a lot of sales made at bingo. So that, used as a fundraiser as well but the publicity gained that we got for it was really what we’re aiming for and to let people know that we’re doing.” The calendars cost €10 each.
So far, 90 per cent of the funds raised have gone directly to YSPI, with €10,250 going towards the cost of fundraising. This is largely for the cost of the skydive.
This year has also seen increased pressure on the free counselling service offered by UCD Health Services. The waiting list for a counselling session is a number of weeks, with students who wait for a prolonged period of time being outsourced to Rathmines.
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