Rock’n’Bowl for mental health

THREE 17-year-olds have come together to raise money for mental health in Geelong.

Alexandra Keogh, Paige Firth and Emmerson Moore raised more than $3,000 for headspace.

The idea started out as a school project where they were encouraged to get out into the community.

While other students chose to do community service the three of them wanted to put on an event to support mental health in the region.

The trio started planning at the end of last year and on April 13 hosted “Rock’n’Bowls” at the Anglesea Bowls Club.

“Being young people in this kind of area, we’ve been able to see and experience how our mental health system works,” Ms Keogh said.

“We feel it’s really important to create more funding for this kind of thing so that more people can access health support, especially since private mental health support is so expensive and with the lack of funding it’s really hard to get into public mental health support.”

The team started brainstorming ideas and looking at the different approaches they could take.

“In the end we thought, wouldn’t it be nice if we hosted an event so we can connect with the community while raising funds at the same time,” Ms Firth said.

The trio put together an evening of lawn bowls, live music and raffles with around 60 people in attendance.

Feed Me Surf Coast also helped out, catering the event while the wider community donated raffle prizes.

“The support we got from everyone in the community and the bands and the local businesses, was really incredible,” Ms Keogh said.

The trio will donate a portion of the raised money to Feed Me Surf Coast who also donated the food.