Weekly wrap - 8 September 2017

This week we were honoured to be nominated for the NSW/ACT Regional Achievement & Community Award, as Australian Community Group of the Year. These awards are designed to encourage, acknowledge and reward the valuable contributions individuals, communities and businesses are making throughout regional and rural NSW & the ACT. 

At Lifeline we celebrate (big and small) every day. This nomination allows us to recognise formally the difference our volunteers and the Lifeline Canberra p team make. Thank you to the Canberra community, we appreciate your support. 

Staying on the theme of awards and recognition, seats for our Women of Spirit Awards luncheon are still available. Ticket sales close on Monday. I encourage you to join us as we celebrate the selfless and inspirational work of 15 Canberra women, and as we announce the Women of Spirit Award recipients. I can assure you that you will laugh and cry at the event, but overall you will leave with a sense of pride in our community and a sense of inspiration in what individuals can achieve when they set their mind to it. Tickets are available on our website. 

On Sunday, we will join with people across the Canberra community to walk united on World Suicide Prevention Day. Walking together and watching the sun rise, we will remember those who have lost their lives to suicide, and we will openly discuss suicide prevention in a supportive environment. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 44 and in Canberra, we lose one person to suicide every week. By speaking openly about suicide, our community can join in the conversation around reducing suicide in Australia and removing social stigmas. I invite you to join us and our friend Shane Rattenbury on this 1km walk, and meet other members of the community. We will meet at 5.40am at the Australian War Memorial and walk together rain or shine. After the walk we will continue our discussions over coffee at Poppy’s Cafe. 

Today has been a great day with the start of our three-day EPIC Bookfair. Lovely to catch up with our patron, Dr Brendan Nelson. With over 1000 people coming through the doors in the first half an hour, we couldn't hope for a better first day. The proceeds of our Bookfair support our crisis support centre with every handful of books sold ($26) going to support a life-changing call. A couple of weeks ago I noted that we received 715 life-saving calls over our three day challenge weekend. Your donations and purchases make this possible. 

Once again, I pay thanks to all of our volunteers, staff, supporters and everyone else in the Lifeline Canberra family. Take care of yourselves and we hope to see you at one (or more) of our events or around the community.