The Scottish Government has made a £400,000 donation to a Scottish football fan who is walking 3,000 miles across the United States.
Craig Ferguson set off from Los Angeles in February in the hope of making it to Boston ahead of the Scotland team’s first game in the World Cup against Haiti, due to take place on Saturday evening local time.
Mr Ferguson aims to raise £1 million for Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) as a result of the walk.
On Thursday, before his own trip across the Atlantic ahead of the team’s first World Cup game in 28 years, John Swinney announced the Government’s backing for the endeavour.
Speaking ahead of leaving for the US on Thursday, the First Minister said: “I met Craig before he headed out to Los Angeles to begin his mammoth trek across the United States and I was struck by his tenacity, ingenuity and genuine passion – both as a Scotland fan and a campaigner for mental health.
“I have been hugely impressed by Craig’s inspirational campaign to raise funds for SAMH, one of Scotland’s leading mental health charities.
“The work such charities do across the country is both life-changing and live-saving, and this funding will help SAMH to continue that important work – including to deliver their new drop-in mental health centres, which my government is keen to support.
“The Tartan Army are such a wonderful advert for Scotland, and I am proud that we have people like Craig representing our country in America as our men’s national team take to the stage for their first World Cup finals in almost 30 years.”
Billy Watson, the chief executive of SAMH, said: “Craig’s efforts to raise awareness of mental health problems and money for SAMH have been absolutely extraordinary.
“He is a football fan, a member of the Tartan Army, who decided he could help and has quite literally come down the road in the most spectacular fashion.
“We’re hugely grateful to Craig, and to the First Minister and the Scottish Government for their support for Craig and SAMH, and we look forward to working with them to roll out The Nook across Scotland.”
The Nook is a walk-in mental health service, based in Glasgow and operated by SAMH.
The charity hopes to expand the project, with plans to open a centre in Aberdeen this month and Edinburgh in the early part of next year.
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