Benalla’s Gayle Golonski and her family are raising funds for Live4Life Benalla as a way of turning tragedy into something positive.
In 2018 Gayle’s grandson Lachlan took his own life, a situation no family should have to go through.
Last year she decided to do her part to try to ensure no other local families do.
She set up the Lockie Project selling Easter eggs to raise money for local youth mental health initiative Live4Life Benalla.
Live4Life offers vital teen mental health training to Year 8 and Year 11 students in Benalla.
This training educates young people in recognising the signs and symptoms of a friend going through a mental health problem or crisis.
Since launching in 2017 more than 1200 young people have been trained in teen mental health first-aid training.
Live4Life aims to break the stigma around mental health and works to ensure everyone feels safe to seek help from those around them.
Support from the community ensures that this vital work can continue to be carried out to support young people.
Things like Live4Life could not exist without financial support, and knowing how vital the work it does is, Gayle decided it was perfect to be the recipient of funds raised through the Lockie Project.
“We do this to commemorate Lachlan and being that his birthday is around Easter we thought wed do it with Easter eggs,” Gayle said.
“And we chose Life4Life as it does such good work around youth mental health.
“We’ve already almost sold out off the eggs this year. But several places around Benalla have bought boxes of them.”
Those include all four Benalla P-12 College campuses; Tomorrow Today; Lionheart on Bridge St; Spot for Ice-Cream; the Gooroombat Pub and Post Office; and Brick by Brick on Nunn St.
There is still time to buy an egg from one of those if you would like to support the fundraiser. They cost $2 with $1 from each going directly to Live4Life.
“I’d like to thank all of those businesses and the school,” Gayle said.
“I know some of the staff at P12 also bought some, so thank you to everyone who has supported us.”
Gail said this year had been so successful that she planned to order eggs earlier in 2024.
“I can’t believe we’ve nearly run out. I think I’ll get the order done in February next year so we can raise even more.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing issues around mental health you can contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14, BeyondBlue on 1300 224 636 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.