Most people could not imagine the pain and loss that Benalla’s Gayle Golonski, and her family, have endured losing two amazing young people to suicide.
In honour of Lockie and Madeline, Ms Golonski decided to turn her pain into something positive and try and make sure no other family goes through such heartbreak.
She has established two fundraisers in their honour, The Lockie Project and Madeline’s Angels, to support young people navigating tough times.
On Thursday, May 23, she presented a cheque for $1000, on behalf of the Lockie Project to Benalla’s Live4Life program.
“Our family members in Melbourne chose the Live4Life crew for the donations because of what they do around youth mental health,” Gayle said.
“And through the sale of Madeline’s Angels, we have recently donated $500 to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
“It supports young people going through challenging times.
“To raise that, we made the angels ourselves, out of clay, and sold them at different places.”
The money donated to Live4Life from the Lockie Project was raised by selling Easter eggs with the help of local businesses.
“We’ve been doing the Lockie Projects for about two or three years now,” Gayle said.
“The community has been very generous.”
Local businesses and organisations that assisted in selling the Easter Eggs include Spot 4 Coffee, the Goorambat Hotel, Benalla P-12 college, Brick by Brick and Tomorrow Today.
Gayle said the family wanted to raise funds for youth mental health programs and charities to help any young people in Benalla, or further afield, and also to honour the memory of Madeline and Lockie.
“We hope to keep doing this,” she said.
“I personally hate the word suicide, but the more aware people are of that word and saying that word, hopefully it won't get to that stage where someone thinks that’s the only answer.
“We want to remove the stigma of mental health, and around talking about it.”
Live4Life participant Charlotte Lawrence thanked Gayle and her family on behalf of the
“Live4Life is really good as lots of young teens have bad mental health,” Charlotte said.
“Through it, we can learn the signs to help us see if someone has a mental health problem.
“And then, their friends can help them by something as simple as asking if they’re okay, or asking an adult for help.”
Find out more about the local Live4Life program via www.live4life.org.au/our-communities/benalla/
If you, or anyone you know, is experiencing any mental health issues, you can call Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or Lifeline on 131 114.