Taupō Rotary fundraising for mental health

Rotary district governor Kevin Forgeson (left) and Lake Taupō Rotary president-elect Jackie Robinson display the funds raised by the local group for Anxiety NZ.

Lake Taupō Rotary Club has been fundraising for national causes recently in a bid to make life a bit brighter for Kiwis facing mental health struggles.

Within Taupō, the Rotary Club is perhaps best known for its community-based work, such as running the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, loaning out the Rotary Van and organising the annual charity golf tournament at Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary.

However, the Rotary Club also makes the time to fundraise for national causes.

Taupō is one of a network of 50 New Zealand Rotary Clubs in the region spanning from Hamilton to Gisborne which elects a new district governor every year.

They each choose charities that the region’s clubs then work together to raise funds for.

Current district governor Kevin Forgeson selected Anxiety NZ as a worthy cause for fundraising this year.

Taupō Rotary opted to use a public holiday to shake up their usual routine and raise some cash for the charity, said president-elect Jackie Robinson.

“Instead of having our regular Monday meal, because it was a holiday, we catered a meal for ourselves.”

They all paid the regular club meal fee that usually funds the outside catering for the in-house dinner, raising $1070 in the process.

Around one in four Kiwis will be affected by an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives, with 15 per cent of the population experiencing one at any given time, according to the Health Navigator Charitable Trust.

The donation from Lake Taupō Rotary will go towards helping the charity with its core mission.

“Anxiety New Zealand Trust provides mental health support, treatment and education for a resilient and thriving Aotearoa.”

The Lake Taupo Rotary team put on a sausage sizzle to raise funds for youth suicide prevention. /Supplied

Alongside the fundraising dinner, the club also held a sausage sizzle outside Pak’nSave, this time to benefit their district’s project aiming to shed light on the levels of youth suicide in New Zealand.

The sizzle served up sausages provided at low cost by Pak’nSave, raising funds for a Rotary project to produce a film called One Last Story, which aims to explore the circumstances around the tragic rates of youth suicide nationally.

The film forms part of a wider Rotary District project called ‘Lifting the lid on youth suicide’, which provides funds for counselling in secondary schools. Currently, Rotary has a pilot scheme running in Hawke’s Bay, with hopes to extend the program to other areas.