{UAH} Fwd: Matthew's story

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From: "Kajal Odedra, Change.org" <change@mail.change.org>
Date: 10 October 2018 19:43:35 BST
To: <georgeokello_8@hotmail.com>
Subject: Matthew's story
Reply-To: "Team UK" <reply-fec810737267007f-32_HTML-536596975-7259809-7719@mail.change.org>

George —  Last night something incredible happened.  We got a call to the Change.org office to say that today, on World Mental Health Day, the Government would announce a new ministerial position - one that is in charge of suicide prevention. This announcement has made the largest mental health petition on Change.org a monumental victory. It all started with Matthew. 13 years ago, Matthew lost his brother Dan to suicide. Dan was his best friend, taken by a silent killer, something none of his friends or family saw coming. After Dan died, Matthew set out to stop anyone having to go through what he and his family had been through. Together with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), he started a petition calling for the UK Government to take suicide seriously - by making suicide prevention a Government minister's responsibility.   Dan is just one of the 84 men who take their own lives every single week in the UK.  Nearly 400,000 people signed Matthew's petition in just a few months, and it blew us away. This was clearly a subject people were desperate to talk about. The comments left by petition signers also gave Matthew a sense of purpose - showing how many other people agreed and were desperate to see things change. And then CALM pulled off an incredible stunt, of installing 84 human silhouette sculptures on a rooftop in London. It made the UK's 84 male suicides a week hard for the Government to ignore. Powered with the knowledge they had hundreds of thousands of you behind them, Matthew spoke about the petition on national news and CALM took the issue to Number 10 to help design the role of a new Minister for Suicide Prevention. This is a huge victory George. I can't think of a better way to mark World Mental Health Day than to share the news that, because of people like you, steps are being taken that could save thousands of lives. Thank you for everything you do, Kajal, Pascale, Rima, Genia, Simon, Kimberly and Lazarus, the UK Change.org team. P.S. Matthew recorded a beautiful message to celebrate this victory, you can help him celebrate the good news by watching and sharing now: Watch Matthew's message Unsubscribe  ·  Manage your email preferences  ·  Privacy policy This email was sent by Change.org to georgeokello_8@hotmail.com, because you registered as a Change.org user on 14/08/2017. We'd love to hear from you! Send us feedback or contact us through our help centre. Change.org  ·  548 Market St #29993, San Francisco, CA 94104-5401, USA