Coming soon in 2015 | March 12, 2015 | by Alexa Moody
Hello, blog readers!
Every now and then I like to take a break in the blog to just do some routine updates about what Please Live is doing and where we are heading. We want to make it a priority to remain transparent so that our community knows what we are doing and can hold us accountable to our mission.
It is only March and we already have a ton of stuff planned for this year, which is exciting and a little bit scary at the same time! Within the past three months we’ve done a lot of cool stuff, including unveiling our new Christian branch called Love Life Ministries, have had several health fair events at community venues such as the YWCA, met with representatives from two local high schools to discuss future events and collaboration, partnered with several new organizations such as The Foundation for Hope and This Is My Brave, hosted small presentations at local stakeholder meetings such as PerformCare, and have added several new skilled volunteers to our volunteer base – and that is just within the past three months!
And what fun stuff do we have planned? Well I’m glad you asked. We’re doing a ton of fairs coming up (keep an eye out for us at The Haven at Celebration Church in Dillsburg, Mechanicsburg’s Diversity Day, the New Cumberland Community Day, the This Is My Brave production, and the employee health fair at the Dept of Agriculture), a few small presentations for the Capital Area Behavioral Health’s Consumer and Family Focus Committee and the PA State Dept of Education employees, we have several preliminary meetings for future events at other community venues, a lot of fun fundraiser events in the works (coffee shops, art galleries, and golf tournaments to name a few), some upcoming training opportunities for community members to learn more about suicide prevention, a volunteer appreciation event in the summer, our usual team at this year’s AFSP’s Out of the Darkness Walk… I think I named it all (so far)!
This year is seriously gearing up to be one of our most productive years and we are so excited for it. Every day we are getting more and more opportunities to spread our message of help and hope to teenagers who need it.
So through all of this excitement, how can you be part of it?
There are several different ways you can help keep our ball rolling here in the midstate:
1. Volunteer. There are no paid staff in Please Live, so all the work you see being done on the front lines and behind the scenes is done by volunteers with a compassionate heart. We are always in need of individuals with all sorts of skills and talents; from creative skills such as design, writing, photography, videography, etc., to technical skills like brainstorming, organizing, or recording data. If you have a heart for the work Please Live does and you want to be a part of it, check out our different areas of volunteering on our volunteering page.
2. Give Financially. Even though most of the work here at Please Live is done by volunteers, we still incur costs. Our program is free for community venues and partnering agencies, so we rely completely on donations and fundraising to accomplish our mission. Your donation makes a huge difference in our ability to fund critical goals. For example:
$70 will train one youth staff member in the 8-hour Youth Mental Health First Aid certification course.
$60 will provide 6 community members with 1-hour QPR Gatekeeper Training.
$50 will provide 100 teachers with our Teacher Cheat Sheet to assist in identifying at-risk students in their classrooms.
You can give in a variety of ways. Check out our donations page for information on the many ways you can donate to our cause.
3. Spread the Word. We will go wherever we are invited. We are willing and ready to enter into your church, school, or community venue to spread our message, but we need your help to do it. Talk to the leaders in your area and help convince them of the need for our message. Print off some teen suicide statistics to begin the conversation.
4. Spread Hope. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, be an ambassador of hope. Be a representative of recovery. Be that person who reaches out and makes a difference. Nothing makes us happier than to know that through our efforts, someone’s life was touched – maybe even saved – because of the ripple effect of our message. And if you feel so inclined to share, we would love for you to connect with us to tell us about how our organization has made a difference to you.
Thank you, dear readers, for all of your continued support for Please Live. Your support really does mean the world to us, and it encourages us to keep on going in a field that is very demanding of us. We hope to see you at some of our upcoming events: please keep checking back as more details become available!
And as always, we are here for you.
Much love,
Alexa Moody
President