A symbolic pair of small figure skates hang among the ornaments on each of the six decorated Christmas trees at Tamara’s Trees of Hope youth mental health and suicide prevention fundraiser at Lambton Mall.
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It’s a new project for the charity, Talk for Tamara, started by Lori Lumley after her 17-year-old daughter, Tamara, took her own life in 2018.
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“I put a pair of figure skates in each tree” in memory of her, Lumley said.
“Tamara was a competitive figure skater. She was a loving, outgoing, athletic person.”
The fundraiser began Friday at the mall’s south end with a display of six decorated trees being raffled off. Each tree has been sponsored and comes with gifts ranging in total value from $1,000 up to $3,000.
The fundraiser runs through Dec. 3.
“It’s for a good cause,” Lumley said. “We’re big on youth education for mental health and suicide prevention.”
Talk for Tamara helps fund a Safe Talk program with Sarnia-Lambton Suicide Prevention, assisted a program at St. Clair Child and Youth services, provided public education about mental health “first aid,” and offers a Happiness 101 course for teens, she said .
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While society is “definitely” doing better at talking about suicide prevention than five years ago, there’s still much to do, Lumley said. “There’s still lots of stigma surrounding mental health and suicide.”
The idea of the fundraiser came from a decorated tree raffle in Chatham, Lumley said. “We put a spin on it and decided to add gifts underneath the tree.”
A $3,000-value tree sponsored by local 1256 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, for example, includes a PlayStation 5, four $100 PlayStation gift cards, a 50-inch TV, speaker and headphones, Lumley said.
Each tree has a ballot box next to it and raffle tickets are $2 each, three for $5 or 15 for $20.
They haven’t set a fundraising goal, but the project attracted a good number of sponsors and there are plans to make it an annual event, Lumley said.
“It’s the first year, so we’re just hoping to do the best that we can. As far as I’m concerned, it’s already a success.”
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