Mounties Partners With Raise Foundation To Support Youth Mentorship Program

29 Jan 2021

Founder of the Raise Foundation, Vicki Condon didn't intend to finish High School. Like many teenagers, Vicki planned to drop out, but was persuaded by a teacher to finish and graduate. This powerful experience - having someone that truly believed in her and encouraged her to do well - resulted in Vicki being the first person in her family to go to university and eventually led Vicki on to supporting the next generation by establishing the Raise Foundation.

The Raise Foundation supports thousands of teenagers going through challenging times by partnering them with trained mentors who listen to their problems, help them with tough decisions and guide them into adulthood. The statistics are sobering. Suicide is the greatest killer of young people. A quarter of young people aged 13-24 will experience a mental health condition, 33 percent are without adequate work, and one in 10 are completely disengaged from education, employment and training.

Mentoring provided by Raise Foundation gives early intervention to vulnerable teens, guiding them in a positive direction and identifying potentially serious issues before they occur. Raise Foundation Partnership Manager, Hannah Ma'asi thinks Mounties Group is the perfect partner to take their organisation to the next level and is impressed with the level of dedication and commitment to their cause.

"We were lucky enough to partner with Mounties Group through the NSW ClubGRANTS scheme. The funds that Mounties has provided us with are truly invaluable in helping us to reach more young people in need of a neutral, trusted adult to talk to," said Hannah.

"It isn't just about the charitable ClubGRANTS donation, Mounties Group genuinely cares about the work that we do. They have committed to helping us in any way they can to help spread the message and recruit volunteers to be trained as mentors, across every state so that we can fulfil our ambition to help as many young people as possible.", she concluded.

In partnership with Mounties Group, Raise Foundation is calling for 2,000 volunteer youth mentors to join them over the next 12 months as they expand their services to more teenagers. Volunteers are given full training and are matched with a vulnerable year 8 student. Donating as little as two hours per week could make a lifelong difference to their lives, and 90% of mentees say that the program helps them make better choices.

Dale Hunt, CEO of Mounties Group, believes this type of organisation is the reason the Group's founders decided to establish a profit-for-purpose business in the first place.

"Mounties Group was formed on the basis of improving the lives of its members and their families. Organisations such as Raise Foundation do such fantastic work for the youth of our community and we are incredibly proud to support such a worthwhile initiative," he said.

"Our team will be working with Hannah over the coming months to help recruit talented and compassionate mentors into the program.

"Many of our own staff have already expressed an interest in signing up and we encourage any of our members who might be keen to do the same. All you need is a desire to make a difference and Raise Foundation will provide all the necessary training."

If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a mentor, please visit https://raise.org.au/mentor/ for more information.