After the premature death of a Romford former Royal Liberty student, the community is coming together to raise charity funds and take on a new challenge.
Twenty-year-old Jimmy Harrington took his own life in November 2019. The tragedy left his friends and family devastated and shocked. Now, the community is coming together to raise money for Samaritans,
“It was so out of the blue, the biggest shock my of life, it was blind to everyone else, he was suffering it alone...nothing could have prepared us,” said 22-year-old carpenter Levi Thursting who went to Royal Liberty School. Levi has taking the lead on organising the fundraiser to go to Mount Snowdon, with a date scheduled for July,
“We’ve been planning it for ages, it’s a huge challenge, it will be a huge sense of achievement and of course we’re doing it in Jimmy’s legacy and to raise funds for Samaritans,” who according to Jimmy’s mum, had been extremely helpful in the difficult times for Jimmy.
“If people can’t make the huge trek, we won’t leave anyone behind, the idea is that we all help each other and work together.”
Another close friend of Jimmy’s, 21-year-old Morgan Poffley, has decided to channel her grief into something positive and is going to train to become a mental health councillor.
“I’ve had quite a few mental health issues myself,” she said. “Because it’s been so relevant I want to do something to help. With mental health we don’t see it all the time, they suffer in silence.”
She added of Jimmy: “He was just a happy boy with such an infectious laugh, he was always making everyone else happy and never worried about himself. I want to make it known that you can ask for help, it’s OK not to be OK, the bravest thing to do is to ask for help.”
The former Emerson Park Academy student has already starting volunteering. She plans to study psychology at university in September and later do a counselling course.
“We going to use Jimmy’s name to raise awareness, that things do get better raise and speak up. I was one of the boys, with Jimmy, we were always having a laugh, we must always be nice, stay strong keeping and most importantly don’t give up.”
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