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Darkness Into Light Sunrise Appeal

Saturday May 9th, saw a Darkness Into Light like no other. Pieta’s largest annual fundraiser was unfortunately forced to postpone due to COVID-19.

Scheduled to take place across five continents, with over 250,000 people coming together to fight against suicide and self-harm - the charity had to pivot for a nation in isolation.

Despite the challenges in doing this, 2020's event was powerful, as families and individuals marked the moment for suicide awareness, rising at dawn to watch the sunrise in their garden or from their front room, while others visited the usual site of their Darkness Into Light walk – staying distant and sharing their solidarity with those affected by suicide.

It’s difficult to say how many people participated, but social media was flooded with thousands of posts of people sharing their sunrise for Darkness Into Light. The appeal was a huge success as over €4 million euro was raised for Pieta.

The journey to the Sunrise Appeal was a difficult one, first Pieta and Electric Ireland who have worked together on Darkness Into Light for seven years running, had to come to terms with the fact that the much-loved walk could not take place. Then we needed to create a safe way to raise vital funds for Pieta: the Sunrise Appeal was born.

The Late Late Show came on board and created a landmark event for mental health in Ireland – sharing stories and raising funds for Pieta. The show featured, CEO of Pieta, Elaine Austin, who was complemented by a star-studded line-up of guests including; Pierce Brosnan, U2’s Adam Clayton, Mary McAleese (who spoke about her support for Darkness Into Light) and the star of Electric Ireland’s ad ‘We’re Brighter Together’, astronaut Chris Hadfield. The show kickstarted fundraising and generated €2 million euro for Pieta.

We've been privileged to work alongside all of the teams at Electric Ireland, Pieta, Rothco, Zoo and Spark Foundry to bring the Sunrise Appeal 2020 to life, at speed and under the most challenging COVID-19 circumstances.

The results of the campaign were phenomenal with over €4 million euro raised and massive awareness of Pieta and their services, our PR campaign reached 19 million opportunities to see. These results represent the passion for such an important charity and cause.

If you need someone to talk to:

CALL FREE on 1800 247 247 or TEXT HELP to 51444

If you want to support Pieta’s lifesaving work, you can donate now on pieta.ie