News / In memory of Vaila
A GROUP of friends has raised over £2,000 in memory of their friend Vaila Tait to help local charity Mind Your Head to fund a support service for mental health in Shetland.
The sum was collected in the run-up to Mind Your Head’s annual Fun Run in the south mainland and they were delighted with the amount.
Ann-Marie Goudie, one of the main driving forces behind the effort, said the group began by holding a Chinese fundraising night at the Great Wall restaurant, and also raised money through social media and taking part in the fun run.
“This was in memory of a dear family member and friend, Vaila, who sadly passed away earlier this year,” she said. “We chose Mind Your Head as we wanted to raise money for a local chairty to further help people who suffer from mental health problems and also raise awareness within Shetland.
In all £2,285 was raised, which the group were “totally overwhelmed with”, and paid a huge thanks to everyone who donated including Shetland Catch, Katy Shewan and The Great Wall.
Including donations collected at Vaila’s funeral, over £3,700 has been donated to Mind Your Head, and Ann-Marie said it was “truly heartwarming to see how many people have supported us through this and we honestly can’t thank you enough. Vaila would be so proud”.
Ann-Marie was joined by Vaila’s sisters Shona and Sadie Tait. Other members of the team were Julia Johnston, Christopher Manson, Emma Manson, Katy Manson, Daniel Meadows, Cathie Henry, Kylie Wood, Lisa Haining, Callie Keith, Natalie Timberlake, Lauren White, Lauren Smith, Marianne Williamson, Rhianne Johnston, Leanne Gear, May Graham, Leigh Johnson, Vivian Ross-Smith, Ella Gordon and Janice Drummond.
Vaila’s parents wished to express their “deepest gratitude to everyone for their kindness and support”.
The group decided to put the money towards Mind Your Head’s proposed mental health support service, and the funds will help the charity with its plans to develop and launch the service in late 2015
Mind Your Head project worker Chris Wright said the team wanted to thank ‘In Memory of Vaila’ for all their hard work: “This is an outstanding amount to have raised in such a small amount of time and we want to thankt he team for their amazing efforts,” he said.
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