Above: A fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention honored a late resident who died too young. (images left contributed)
This summer, I shared a former resident used this blog to reach out to our community about a fundraiser for Suicide Prevention in the memory of his late friend — Southborough’s Connor Costello. He asked me to share a thank you to those who supported the successful effort.
Dan Butka’s June letter, he described loved ones’ plans for a fundraiser in Costello’s memory for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention:
Given his career as a professional basketball player and his love for surfing, there’s no better way to honor Connor Costello than a day of pickup basketball by the beach with everyone he loved while we raise money for a good cause. A group of Connor’s friends and former teammates are gathering with his family for the Tell the Homies You Love Them Invitational.
The letter encouraged the community to made Venmo donations to support the fundraiser. Butka followed up this week to tell me that the successful fundraising invitational took place. He asked me to share his thanks with readers. Scroll down for that.
Given the cause, I’ll take this opportunity to remind readers that for Suicide Awareness Prevention Month, Southborough Youth & Family Services is offering Mental Health Info Sessions and other events throughout September (including tonight). Read more here (and about additional programs and resources here.)
It’s also not too late to sign up to get a lawn sign delivered to your home. The signs promote “Your Life Matters” plus include the helpful tip to Dial 988 “For a Mental Health Emergency” with a QR code to help people link to resources.
Now here’s Butcka’s thank you, followed by photos he shared from the invitational:
Thank you so much to the Southborough community for supporting our fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in memory of Connor Costello. We held the event this weekend in Wellfleet with Connor’s parents and ultimately donated $14,672 to the AFSP in his name.
If any folks that donated weren’t there on Saturday and want to see the donation receipts, documents, etc, feel free to shoot me an email at Daniel.Butka@dell.com and I’ll send them over. Thank you again – it meant more to us than I can possibly say.
