The Hon. Greg Piper chats with the Ride4Life crew

Local MP, the Hon. Greg Piper visited our Lake Macquarie campus on Sunday to meet with the Ride4Life four.

“It’s such an incredible commitment to such an important cause”, said Mr Piper of Louise, Anna, Sonia and Rachel’s mission. The four are just six days away from embarking on their ride from Perth to Sydney for mental health awareness. Ride4Life’s aim is to raise $500,000 for Gotcha4Life, an organisation committed to bringing suicide down to zero in Australia.

Keeping dialogue open about mental health is important; in our country 1 in 2 young Australian’s are impacted by suicide by the age of 25, with males being 3 times more likely to take their life than females. “There would be very few people who aren’t aware of, directly or indirectly, of somebody taking their own life…The thought that [these ladies] would do something as committed as this, to ride across the country like this to raise awareness and funds to assist people–hopefully [we] as a community [can] keep talking and sharing about [mental health] and making sure no one is left behind,” commented Mr Piper.

“I think they are going to have an amazing time - it’s not going to be easy but a lot of hard work. I hope they come back fulfilled–not just with the trip but with what they have achieved.”

Mr Piper has been an independent voice for Lake Macquarie for over 30 years, as a Member of Parliament, Mayor and Councillor. He lives on the Morisset peninsula.