‘Time To Donate’ - Licence to Queer’s 2024 charity fundraiser
Since May 2022, the Licence to Queer community has raised over £7,000 for charity.
This year we’re raising money to support the vital work of a charity whose mission is close to our hearts: PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.
Very few people will not have been affected by suicide. One of my motivations for starting Licence to Queer was to do whatever I could to shatter the stigma surrounding suicide. Not only have I experienced suicidal thoughts for prolonged periods of my own life but I have known several people who have taken their own lives.
One of my earliest pieces dealt very personally with my own battle with suicidal ideation and it’s a topic I’ve returned to more recently in my coverage of the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die.
That film’s title provided us with the inspiration for the name of this year’s fundraiser. Its star, Daniel Craig, has personally donated to our chosen charity and sent them messages of support.
This year we are raising money for PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.
As we have done in previous years, my husband and me created a focal point for our efforts by having a marathon Bond watchalong with followers. The first year, it was the Bond films of Roger Moore. Last year it was the Bond films of Pierce Brosnan. This year’s it’s fitting that it was Daniel Craig.
The centrepiece event took place on Sunday 26th May, when we watched all five Daniel Craig films in one massive marathon, starting at 9am and ending just before midnight. You can watch all of the films we shot during the day over on the Licence to Queer Instagram.
We had custom drinks, costume changes and food. You can find that menu and the recipes here.
By the end of this event, we had raised an additional £3000 for PAPYRUS! And our efforts will continue throughout the rest of 2024, so it’s not too late to donate.
About PAPYRUS
The Mission
PAPYRUS exists to reduce the number of young people who take their own lives, by shattering the stigma surrounding suicide and equipping young people and their communities with the skills to recognise and respond to emotional distress. They believe that no young person should have to struggle alone with thoughts of suicide.
The Vision
PAPYRUS envisions a society which speaks openly about suicide and has the resources to help young people who have suicidal thoughts.
Values and Beliefs
PREVENTION: Many young suicides are preventable.
PASSION: Those who are touched personally by a young suicide have a unique contribution to make to our work.
HOPE: No young person should have to suffer alone with thoughts or feelings of hopelessness, and nobody should have to go through the heartbreak of losing a young person to suicide.
LEARNING: Everyone can play a role in preventing young suicide.
PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide is the UK charity dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people.
PAPYRUS was founded in 1997 by a group of bereaved parents, who had lost children to suicide. Their founding parents shared core beliefs that suicide is preventable, and that those with lived experience of suicide have a valuable and unique contribution to make to the wider conversation around suicide.
Since then, PAPYRUS has grown into a UK-wide charity with offices in north west England, south west England, West Midlands, London, Northern Ireland, north Wales, south Wales, and Scotland.
Today, they are a leading youth suicide prevention charity in the UK. Their suicide prevention helpline, HOPELINE247, is staffed by trained suicide prevention advisers, who work with young people – and anybody concerned for a young person – to help keep them safe from suicide.
They deliver suicide prevention education and training packages to thousands of people each year, to create suicide-safer communities across the UK.
They also press for change to current legislation around suicide prevention on a regional and national level.
HOPELINE247 is available 24 hours a day, 265 days of the year to support young people experiencing suicidal thoughts, and those concerned about a young people that might be feeling suicidal.
Call: 0800 068 41 41
Text: 07860 039 967
Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org
