More than 5000 people are expected to visit Lifeline's Big Book Fair by Sunday afternoon - and Corrimal resident Victoria Absolon made sure to get in early.
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On Friday morning she and her four children had already staked their claim on scores of books - enough to keep them going for some months she reckons.
"I home school and we have a reading hour every day, and we also love to read books before bed," Ms Absolon said.
It's the third year she's brought her brood to the Illawarra Sports Stadium at Berkeley to stock up, and she was happy to wait in line this year and comply with COVID-safe measures.
"In some countries people have to queue for food and water - I certainly don't mind queuing for books," she said.
There's been a number of changes to the 2020 event due to the pandemic - including a QR code entry for contact tracing, a changed floorplan to allow for social distancing and sanitiser stations. There's even a 'social distancing fairy' on hand, to remind people about the 1.5m rule.
Lifeline South Coast CEO Renee Green said it was also strongly recommended that customers wear masks.
"People can touch the books and flick through them but we are encouraging them to be mindful about their own hygiene, and sanitise their hands regularly while they browse," she said.
"The limit on numbers - we're allowing 400 in at a time - means there has been a queue but customers are being very understanding and patient.
"We're still expecting 5000 visitors over the weekend, and there's over 85,000 books across 50 different categories for them to choose from."
Ms Green said the fundraising goal was $140,000, which would help fund Lifeline's 24-hour crisis support service in the Illawarra and South Coast.
"We'd already started to see an increase in demand of around 10 to 15 per cent at the end of 2019 as bushfires impacted our local communities," she said.
"That increased further when COVID hit and in the last seven months we've seen a 25 per cent increase in demand, and don't expect that to decrease any time soon."
National figures released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday revealed that 3318 lives were lost to suicide in 2019.
That equates to around nine deaths per day; and represents a six per cent increase on the previous year.
In 2019, suicide was the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 49 and accounted for the highest number of years of potential life lost.
Consistently over the past 10 years, the number of suicide deaths was approximately three times higher in males than females.
"These figures were for 2019, before the impact of the bushfires or COVID was really felt," Ms Green said.
"Any death by suicide is devastating, and the figures remind us of how much work there still is to do in terms of educating people to look after themselves and others, and in reducing the stigma around suicide so people feel comfortable and confident to seek help.
"We take these latest figures as a call to action to make sure we're working collaboratively with other services in the area and providing the best possible service to the region."
Lifeline South Coast ambassador, Australian international lawn bowler Karen Murphy, encouraged others to support the vital service.
Ms Murphy is one of more than 20 elite athletes selected as Lifeline Community Custodians to help raise awareness about suicide and mental illness, to reduce stigma and encourage vulnerable people to seek help.
"I've lived on the South Coast all my life and recently retired from international bowls and wanted to support this great organisation that provides a range of services for local people," she said.
"With many people experiencing mental health issues and financial stress due to the pandemic, it's important to have these services for people to reach out to for support."
The event will continue on Saturday from 9am to 5pm, and Sunday from 9am to 4pm.
For support call 13 11 14.
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