Mental Health America is hosting a human bingo event on Saturday, Jan. 27, to raise funds for the nonprofit for the second year.
The event will be held at Woodside Country Club from 6:30-10 p.m. All proceeds from the tickets will support Mental Health America in Aiken, Barnwell and Edgefield counties.
Each ticket costs $150 and includes a seated dinner, an open bar and music. The black tie dress code is optional for attendees.
The highlight of the event will be the human bingo game, where attendees act as bingo chips. The person to finish the diagonal line will receive a grand prize, and all others in the line will also get a prize, as well. There will be three rounds of human bingo throughout the night.
There will also be a silent auction.
Last year the nonprofit raised $80,000 towards suicide prevention services including family support and support for police officers.
The event is the brainchild of Amy Patheja and Pam Fischbach from Mental Health America.
“We both have been affected in our families by suicide in one way or another,” Patheja said. “And we just felt like there's a need. And we saw that if nobody's going to do anything about the need, it's never going to get met.”
The funds will primarily be used for family support programs for families affected by suicide.
“If there's one suicide in the family, there's usually more,” Patheja said. “And it makes you a little more of a candidate, so to say, for more suicides within your family. So, we're going to try to work a little with family support.”
She said human bingo is one of the more unique events that Mental Health America does throughout the year because of how it is focused on raising money through having fun.
Mental Health America is still looking for sponsors. Tickets can be purchased at aikenhumanbingo.com/.
