In 2019, Murph Manthey and Rachel Jarvis and Mr Ian Rowe set out to raise awareness in the rise in Veterans suicides associated with severe PTSD.
Murph has firsthand knowledge of this as her son still struggles to this day with severe PTSD after returning from Afghanistan.
Their ultimate goal was for Murph and Rachel to summit Mt Kilimanjaro to show that there was no mountain too high to conquer.
Over a period of a few months, they held numerous fundraisers to raise awareness and funds.
Due to Covid, the chances of overseas travel and climbing the summit are unlikely in the short term, so they decided there could not be a worthier cause than Mates 4 Mates to donate all the money raised.
This month they handed over a cheque totalling $11,922.20 to Mates 4 Mates to assist them with their mission to help our veterans.
Murph said none of it would have been possible without generous donations from the public and assistance with the fundraisers.
“Special thanks goes to Mr John Verrell, Dr Andrew Spall of Tewantin Medical Centre, Tewantin Vietnam Veterans and John Laws for their donations and to Lucy Sanderson, Cape Tiene, Petra Bensen, Sophie Morgan, Stumpy, JB, Sammy Goodridge, Lexie Mawn and Mr Bill Kippen for generously donating their time,“ he said.
“Also a special thanks to General Manager, Julie McLaws for allowing us to use the Tewantin Noosa RSL to hold fundraisers.“
Mates 4 Mates mission is to provide physical, psychological, and social support services to improve the wellbeing of the military family. In Australia, there is estimated to be more than half a million veterans.
Many have been impacted by service-related injuries and need support to help get them through difficult times.