Hundreds of people from the Wall Street community gathered with military veterans and active duty service members last night on board the Intrepid on the Hudson River for a fundraiser to help stop soldier suicide.
The "A Night For Life" fundraiser benefitted Stop Soldier Suicide—a civilian not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing soldier suicide by bringing free mental health care to U.S. service members and veterans and raising awareness about soldier suicide.
Click to see photos from the event >
Stop Soldier Suicide was co-founded by Brian Kinsella, a former U.S. Army captain who will be joining Goldman Sachs. He previously worked as an energy sector specialist at BNP Paribas.
Every day, one active duty soldier and 22 veterans take their own lives. It's a growing epidemic and Kinsella believes that it's unacceptable.
"And in the active Army, the primary cause of death is not vehicular accidents or combat- it is suicide. In fact, more soldiers on active duty died by their own hand in 2012, than died in combat…Unacceptable," he said in a speech last night.
The event was hosted by Derek Wallis, who previously worked at Soros Fund Management and now is the head trader at Marlowe LP. Wallis has been hosting these events on the Intrepid to benefit military veteran related non-profits for the last few years. Sponsors of the event included, Knight Capital, Liquidnet and Brean.
With tickets costing $150 and all proceeds going to the cause, guests were able to imbibe on cocktails from a four-hour long open bar, listen to music, participate in both live and silent auctions and dance the night away.
It's estimated that more than 1,500 people were in attendance last night. You can do the math, but it probably raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a very important cause.
In case you missed it, we've included some highlights in the slides that follow.
Here we are at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. The ship is a must-see and it's an excellent venue for a fundraiser.
There was four-hour open bar, live music, a DJ and dancing.
There was a mix of Wall Streeters in suits and ties and Marines in their dress blues.
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