Community set to jazz for mental health

THREE schools from across the region will combine with The Rotary Club of Geelong for a ‘Jazz Swings’ evening, a fundraising event and online raffle for mental health charities Headspace, The Power In You and Ocean Mind.

The ‘Jazz Swings’ event will be at the Geelong West Town Hall tomorrow night (September 2) with community members celebrating and championing mental health with food, wine and live music.

An eight-person jazz ensemble from Kardinia International College and a jazz quartet from St Joseph’s College in Geelong will perform at the event.

North Geelong Secondary College will be a presenting partner, providing a small supper as part of the evening festivities which will be served as part of the ticket fee.

Fundraising Committee of the Rotary Club of Geelong chair, Daryl Starkey, said the event would showcase the musical talents of our school students while supporting the mental health of our younger generations.

“The mental health of youth is a paramount concern and many of our young are suffering mental anguish and too many have dropped out of education altogether,” Mr Starkey said.

“This Rotary Club of Geelong fundraiser is an initiative to specifically support the mental health of youth who may be in need of support or professional help.

“It’s our first year of running the event in 2022 and we are very excited to hopefully raise plenty of money for our mental health beneficiaries through both the event at the hall but also through the online raffle which has some amazing prizes in it.”

In addition to the fundraising event tomorrow night, the community are encouraged to get involved with the event online raffle which will be drawn during the festivities.

Online raffle prizes include a 12-month Kieser Gym Membership, two nights in a luxury two-bedroom apartment in Torquay, a dozen 6ft6 Austin Wines mix, a Rip Curl travel bag and much more.

Mr Starkey encouraged people who couldn’t make it in person to the event, to get involved in this manner and to give what they could for the cause.

Founder and CEO of Ocean Mind Rachael Parker said their organisation was rapt to be one of three beneficiaries of the event and noted they were grateful that the event would focus on delivering positive outcomes for youth mental health in the region.

“The money raised from the Jazz Swing evening will be used to deliver more programs for young people experiencing mental health challenges, social isolation and disabilities in our region,” Ms Parker said.

“This season we aim to provide 100 places for young people in our programs, and the funds raised will contribute directly to this goal.”

Members of the community are invited to get involved with the online raffle and buying tickets for the physical event at the Geelong West Hall.

The event will be BYO with attendees encouraged to bring their own wine and snacks to compliment the supper.

The online raffle can be found at raffletix.com.au

Tickets for the fundraising evening can be found at https://rotarygeelong.protix.io/events/jazz-swings.