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Human Bingo event to raise funds for suicide prevention and awareness programs for teens and college-aged adults

Aiken Standard - 1/7/2023

Jan. 7—After losing a relative to suicide in the past year, Pam Fischbach wanted to do something to bring awareness to the community.

In an effort to raise suicide awareness in Aiken County, a Human Black Tie Bingo event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at Woodside Country Club and will benefit suicide prevention in the Aiken area.

The event will include a sit-down dinner, an open bar, music by Anybody's Guess and human bingo.

According to 2020 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 868 people died by suicide in South Carolina.

Funds from the event will be donated to Mental Health America of Aiken County and to the National Alliance on Mental Health to create a suicide prevention and awareness program for teen and college-age adults.

Amy Patheja, who works with Fischbach, said they wanted to focus on teens and college-age adults because there are a lot of suicides at that age and to teach them some signs of suicide.

Based on data from The Jed Foundation, 25.5% of adults between the ages of 18-24 have considered suicide and 18.8% of high school students have considered suicide.

Patheja hopes the event could maybe save a friend's life.

"We have discovered that there is a suicide issue here and we know it," Patheja said.

Patheja said she and Fischbach are doing the event on their own and not with Mental Health America of Aiken County.

Mental Health America of Aiken Executive Director BonnieAnne Fulghum said people need to stop the stigma that comes with mental health and be willing to have discussions about it.

"It's not going to be a heavy event because it is going to be fun and we want to raise awareness, but we want people to come back next year to raise the awareness again," Fulghum said.

"We need to stop the stigma, so people have an open discussion on mental health and that it is a disease like any other disease out there," she added.

"We are hoping we are saving one life at a time," Fischbach said.

Tickets are $125 and include an open bar, seated dinner, music and dancing. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit aikenhumanbingo.com.

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