‘Race Across the Country’ mission for mental health

‘Race Across the Country’ is taking place on the weekend of August 22-24 to raise vital funds for the charity’s mental health and counselling services, which are facing unprecedented demand.

Via Wings founder, Gail Redmond BEM, outlined the stark reality of a mental health service under severe pressure.

She said: “Rising demand and long waiting lists are impacting countless individuals and families.

“Mental health services are underfunded, with a significant gap between demand for the services and the resources available.

“Charities are being inundated with calls from individuals who have no idea where to turn, leaving charities to bridge the gap to support these people.

“Via Wings are offering as much support as we can, but we are in dire need of funds to cope with the influx.

“The continued lack of funding has forced us, as a charity, to pursue other methods of raising much needed money.

“Staff members are now taking matters into their own hands by embarking on the ultimate quest to put the kindness of the public to the test, as well as highlighting how hard it can be to ask for help and sometimes get told ‘sorry I can't help…’”

The Via Wings ‘Race Across the Country’ challenge is loosely based on the BBC series ‘Race Across the World’ but, instead of racing across the world, the teams will race across the country of Ireland by solely asking for help.

Mobile phones and Google maps are forbidden! They must solely rely on the kindness of others.

The event also has a powerful mental health message - it is about highlighting the need to ask for help, and showing how far you can go when you get the right help and support at the right time.

Gail continued: “The race won't be easy but it's about building genuine connections and discovering the power of community, as well as finding out how it feels to walk in someone else’s shoes… someone who is constantly having to ask for help, but not knowing where it's going to come from.

“In a time when mental health services are more crucial than ever, these efforts will have a direct impact on lives, providing essential support and care to those who need it most.”

Individuals or local businesses can get involved by sponsoring a team, or providing all or part of their ‘emergency fund’ (for unforeseen, critical situations).

With no paid public transport, phones and limited funds, the racers will have to ask for help every step of the way through three checkpoints over three days.

They will only be given their checkpoint destination on the morning they start (Friday, August 22). The checkpoints will be in different locations across Northern and Southern Ireland.

As well as travelling to the checkpoint destination, teams will be set challenges through the three days to complete.

Completion of these challenges will go toward their start time the following day.

On Sunday (August 24) they will travel back to Dromore where a big community barbecue will be held at Via Wings premises to welcome them back home.

Gail revealed it has been a great event to organise, and follows in the footsteps of the charity’s hugely successful fundraisers to date.

“We’ve walked from Dromore to Dublin, we’ve walked from Portrush to Dromore, we did the fastest zipwire in the world and Strictly Come Dancing. This year we wanted to do something new and different!

“The teams comprise of people from all walks of life, people who started with us as a client, our counsellors, board members, a GP…

“We would love to hit £30,000 with our fundraising - that won’t even touch what is needed to run our wellbeing centre, but it would give us a breathing space in order to continue to provide our counselling, mental health and wellbeing services.

“At Via Wings we pride ourselves on being a safe place where people can avail of counselling, play therapy and learn tools to support them as they work towards managing their mental health. Wellbeing is at the heart of what we do.”

Visit: mailchi.mp/8cdbd92b4948/race-across-the-country for further information and to find out how you can support the challenge.