Bogan Gate man Peter White has begun filming a documentary about his epic kayak journey down the Lachlan River.
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Peter paddled 900km down the Lachlan River over 41 days to raise funds to rally the resources to talk about mental health issues with young people.
It was a physically exhausting journey, but Peter persevered through cold nights and dragged his kayak over and around snags day after day with one goal in mind: prevent youth suicide.
Now he’s retracing that journey with a documentary team, so his story can be shared.
Australian Horizons Foundation, a charitable foundation with a focus on rural communities surviving and thriving, partnered with Peter on his journey down the Lachlan River and on the documentary.
His focus is on drawing together people and resources to run seminars in the district’s high schools focusing on youth suicide prevention.
Peter’s plan is to bring together speakers, then host barbecues and give kids space to talk.
Australian Horizons Foundation board member Anita Donlon said the Foundation is all about connecting with like minded groups, while promoting the economic and social well-being of rural towns.
Ms Donlon said they wanted to be part of what Peter was doing and get the message out to a wider audience.
“When he [Peter] was telling me what he wanted to do, we jumped on straight away,” she said.
The Australian Horizons Foundation helped promote Peter’s journey through social media and connected him with the Visit Australian Small Towns Inc. group to create this documentary.
The documentary project, entitled ‘Let’s get rural’ aims to promote Peter’s journey and message as well as to encourage and highlight the opportunities found in rural communities.
Ms Donlon said the documentary aims to also highlight the wealth of history, culture, economic and environment of rural communities.
The ‘Lets get rural’ documentary follows Peter as he retraces his steps in some of the major places along the Lachlan River including Cowra, Forbes and Gooloogong.
Lachlan Area Suicide Prevention Network Chair Ross Bailey presented Peter with a cheque for $500 recently to go towards his fundraising efforts.
“We are pleased to hand over this donation to help you continue to bring awareness to suicide prevention,” Ross told Peter.
Peter said people can still donate to the cause, but the focus isn’t on money now but on youth suicide prevention.
Donate by SMSing PREVENTION to 0437 371 371.
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