Charity fashion show for suicide prevention

When student Jennifer Purcell sees the coastguard helicopter hovering over her native city, she pauses and prays another life has not been lost to the River Shannon.

The rescue chopper is a regular visitor to Limerick City’s skyline, and, Ms Purcell — who has lost friends to suicide — has called for support in helping her raise more awareness about people who are “jumping” to their deaths, a practice that continues to blight Limerick’s modern and picturesque quaysides.

Tonight she will host a fashion show fundraiser in aid of Limerick Marine Search & Rescue Service (LMSRS) and the Corbett Suicide Prevention Patrol. The latter of the two voluntary groups was set up in recent years to patrol suicide hotspots along the river after a spike in deaths, while LMSRS works on a voluntary basis recovering the bodies of suicide victims as well as performing rescues.

“They [LMSRS] do a lot of work for us and people aren’t really aware of the Corbett suicide group or what exactly they do. They go out and patrol the river at all hours of the morning from Thursday to Saturday nights and no one would really know that they are out there, because everyone else is in bed,” she explained.

“They give up their hours to talk someone down [off a bridge] and stop them from jumping into the river, and then, get up the next morning and go to work,” Ms Purcell added.

Celia Holman Lee is providing her agency models for the ‘Fashion for Life’ fundraiser at the Strand Hotel tonight at 7pm.

Ms Purcell, 20, from Rosbrien, said there is a “general sense” of suicide in Limerick when the helicopter appears on the horizon.

“Everyone in Limerick seems to have been affected by suicide in one way or another. When we hear that helicopter out it gives a shiver down your spine... because it’s so frequently happening and everyone kind of freaks out when they hear the helicopter saying, ‘please God, say it’s not another person gone into the Shannon’.”

She hopes to raise at least €2,000 from the fundraiser, which includes a pop-up clothes shop that will be selling second-hand quality garments at bargain prices.

“Most people would presume that somebody in my family would have killed themselves, but they haven’t, luckily enough. I’m probably blessed for that, because most people in Limerick have been affected one way or the other.”

“I just know so many young people who have unfortunately lost their lives, and, being a young girl myself, I just see so much potential in life and I just think that I’d do anything I can to help,” she added.

A “surprise band” have been booked to perform at the fundraiser. Tickets cost €5 and are available at the Strand Hotel.