Five students from Benalla P-12 College showed the Rose City’s dedication to supporting good causes with a 12-hour charity walk on Saturday, November 16.
Mikayla Borredale, Andrew Noyes, Alex Briggs, Sophie Winkler and Erin Jenkins came up with the idea to raise funds for the local Live4Life initiative, which empowers regional communities to improve youth mental health and wellbeing.
Even an injury was not enough to stop the group, with Andrew using a wheelchair to navigate the lakeside track after fracturing his patella.
Erin said the day went really well.
“The support and encouragement we got from everyone around us was great, and we couldn’t have done it without that,” she said.
“We had friends come up from Melbourne, and the Rotary Club cooked a barbecue and gave a big donation.
“And although we had a small issue with the heat and dehydration we all still managed to complete it to the best of our abilities.“
On the day, the Benalla community did what it does best and threw its support behind the students, with more than 100 local people taking part, aged between 0 and 88 years old.
The group has already raised an impressive $9000, but is hoping for more.
“We are very thankful that it’s going to help youth in our community with mental health,” Erin said.
“And people can still donate money up until Saturday, November 23, through our donations page.”
You can do that via ourwalkformentalhealth.weebly.com/
The group said they have received wonderful support from the community.
“There have been a lot of people that helped out with donations and all the companies and businesses that pitched in giving us thousands of dollars worth of items for our raffle,” Erin said.
“We would also like to thank all of our teachers, families and friends that have supported us to make our day possible.
“Steph and Will from Live4Life Benalla have also been an amazing support all throughout our planning and also during our day.
“We’d also like to thank everyone who came down and walked, donated, and also the Benalla Rotary Club who cooked our barbecue for us.”