This Saturday morning on the 6th May sees our own Kim Armstrong, Major Account Manager at Excel Vending taking part in the Walk of Hope taking place from Finnieston Crane in Glasgow. The charity event is to raise awareness and funds for Chris’s House – Centre for Help, Response & Intervention Surrounding Suicide, a valuable community resource in Wishaw. It is also a chance for those affected by suicide to remember their loved ones and to serve as a reminder that there is always hope.
Chris’s House is the first 24-hour non-medical crisis centre in Scotland, a safe environment where people in crisis may seek respite from depression and negative and despairing thoughts. Chris’s House offers individually tailored programmes to offer support to individuals and respite through their journey along with one to one support, therapies and peer to peer groups.
The community run organisation is staffed by fully trained volunteers from various professional and life experience backgrounds. All volunteers are trained in suicide intervention.
The 5k walk begins at 4.15am, while the sky is still dark and finishing as dawn breaks, symbolising hope from darkness. Kim is a Trustee and Volunteer at Chris’s House and is proud to be taking part in this worthy cause. We will be supporting the Walk of Hope with Strathmore Water as part of our social responsibility programme. Kim emphasised the importance of the event as a way to raise donations to keep the centre running:
“I am a Trustee and volunteer at Chris’s House and I know first-hand that, we rely on donations to keep us going. Every penny is spent wisely to benefit our guests who can come and have Reiki, some peer support or counselling at a time when they are in suicidal crisis. We strive to give our guests a warm and homely environment for them to just be themselves and take time to explore new ways of looking at life so when they leave us, they are safe and restored to feeling optimistic about their future.
I am walking to help raise funds to we can continue to reach as many people as possible who are affected by the darkness that suicide leaves behind.”
Tickets are available for £15 from Eventbrite or you can make a donation to Kim on My Donate if you are unable to attend. More information about the charity can be found at Chris’s House website.