Kepler Challenge Suicide Awareness Fundraiser

With the support of friends and family, Austen Haig, Ella-Rose Haig, Rusty Anderson and Shannon Edgar are setting out to raise as much money as they can for the Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust, based in our home town Dunedin. By taking on this mammoth challenge, we want to show that with love and support around you, you can achieve anything.

Every 17 hours a person in New Zealand takes their own life. New Zealand loses 10 to 11 people every week due to suicide. Our youth suicide rate is the worst in the developed world. An average of 100 people are affected by every life lost in this way. While these numbers are distressing, it’s important we remember suicide is preventable. These statistics are simply inexcusable, we hope to reduce New Zealand suicide rate by both raising money and awareness.

Recently, we experienced first-hand the devastation suicide causes to friends and family as we lost a close friend who had always come bearing a smile. This has reminded us all of the importance of checking in with those around us as you never know what battles people are going through alone.

Given the extreme lack of government funding mental health and illness has in New Zealand, this is an opportunity for us to do our part and help fill that void. The Life Matter Suicide Prevention Trust is our nominated beneficiary as they are a charitable organization doing amazing work to raise awareness and offer great services to help prevent instances of suicide in the future.

To do this, we have set ourselves the goal of running the Kepler Challenge, a 62k mountain run over the Kepler Track in Te Anau. This is well out of our comfort zone, but the knowledge that we will have made even the slightest bit of difference is special and motivating to us all.

More on the Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust

They offer great services to our community including:

· SafeTALK suicide prevention workshops with speakers from out of town;

· Bereavement support in the form of online private groups (nationwide and international) and also a group that meets monthly in Dunedin;

· Deliver talks to groups in our community and ensure people receive the help they need; and

· Organise a number of events such as Hopewalk and World Suicide Prevention Day.

They are strong advocates for people who struggle to access the help they need and recently delivered a petition to Parliament requesting an inquiry into mental health services

All this work is done free of charge to our communities and by their trustees who do it on top of their day jobs. While they are doing amazing work, more funding is always required and welcomed to be able to continue to provide these services and expand into other communities.

We ask that you donate generously to such a good cause but also remind you that any little bit helps! All funds donated will go directly to the trust.

Finally, a special thank you to UDC Finance Limited for sponsoring the T-Shirts we will run the race in.

Wish us luck!