FOR Sunraysia Lifeline Project chair Stephen Hegedus, the aim of the Sunraysia Lifeline Project Motorcycle Rally, which he has been organising for more than 10 years, is to not only raise funds for Lifeline, but also awareness for suicide prevention.
“It’s to start a conversation, get the local people to be involved,” he said.
This year’s charity ride is on Sunday, March 17, with motorcycle enthusiasts set to ride 120km from Mildura to the Millewa Pioneer Park at Meringur, raising money that will stay in the community.
“It gets spent either on training new people to man the calls at the Lifeline Mildura call centre ... or towards providing free training services to the community, such as mental health, suicide prevention and domestic violence training,” Mr Hegedus said.
Having been involved with the Sunraysia Lifeline Project since its inauguration in 2012, Mr Hegedus said it was a personal incident in 2000 that prompted him to become involved with the committee.
“When I was approached at the time (to join the committee), it was just a no-brainer for me – when it was put to me that we could be making a difference, I wanted to get on board,” he said.
The main aim of the group was to get a Lifeline call centre in Mildura, which opened nearly a year ago.
“People ask me why have a call centre in Mildura because it doesn’t matter where the calls are answered, and that is true,” Mr Hegedus said.
“But the people that get trained, the nationally accredited training they get, they take that training with them everywhere they go – they go home and it rubs off, they go to work and it rubs off, they go to their sporting club and it rubs off.
“It helps to build resilience in the community, and hopefully in the next five to 10 years with our call centre here, we will be able to see changes in the statistics in the local area.”
Mr Hegedus also wanted to stress that just because there was now a call centre locally, people did not need to worry about someone they know answering their call for help.
“A lot of people are worried in a small community about ringing the call centre, but what they don’t understand is that the local call centre doesn’t actually answer local calls,” he said.
“What happens is our calls are pushed out into the network, and then we answer calls from the network. So we answer probably more calls than what locals make.
“Then there is virtually no way for a person seeking help to be recognised by the person answering the call.”
The Sunraysia Lifeline Project Motorcycle Rally on March 17 starts at 9am at the Bunnings carpark, Fifteenth Street, Mildura, where you can register for the event, purchase merchandise, make a donation or grab a coffee. At 10am, the riders begin their journey to Meringur, where they will be welcomed with a barbecue fundraiser.
To sign up, donate or learn more about the event, visit bit.ly/SunraysiaLifelineProjectRide.
Anyone requiring crisis support can call Lifeline’s 24-hour number, 131 114, or Beyond Blue, 1300 224 636.