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Wests Steps up for 25twoZero Challenge

Posted at 21 Feb 2021

Wests Group Macarthur have partnered with local charity Mentoring Men and the 25twoZERO
Movement to help deliver services that prevent men reaching a point of despair and crisis in their lives
and reduce male suicide in South Western Sydney.

 

Wests have committed to their own 25twoZERO challenge on the 25th of February, whereby staff across
all venues including Wests League Club, Country Club Gledswood Hills, Lakeside Golf Club Camden and
Wests Tennis Club will go head-to-head with a venue step goal of 250,000 each or 1million+ steps
across the group. On hitting the goal Wests Group Macarthur will donate $5,000 to Mentoring Men
for the provision of free life mentoring services for men in the community*.

 

The 25twoZERO initiative has been established by Shay Hare, a mentor with Mentoring Men who was
moved to take action after the suicide of his colleague and started the “25-2-0” in honour of the 2502
men lost to suicide each year. Shay shares “The 25twoZERO movement offers opportunities for
everyone to participate by selecting an exercise with a target variation around the number 2520 and
raise funds from their friends and relatives to help make a difference in reducing male suicide”.

 

Wests Group Macarthur have highlighted mental health as a key focus of their community
engagement activities and are pleased to be able to activate the steps challenge across their venues.
Wests Group Macarthur Interim CEO Daniel Grady says “Our staff are actively engaged in our
community activities and highly competitive. It brings me great pleasure to not only set but to join the
Wests 25twozero steps challenge with a collective goal and am confident we will be able to deliver
$5,000 towards Mentoring Men’s efforts in the region.

 

Daniel adds, “We are also pleased to invite Greg Warren MP to our challenge as part of our team for
the day and encourage everyone in the community to join in by setting their own movement goals for
the day or coming in and cheering on our team members”.

 

Greg Warren MP supports the initiative commenting “Mental health is a serious issue impacting
many members of our community. Anything that raises awareness and reduces the stigma
surrounding mental health, is a positive step and a worthwhile cause”.

 

The movement has been welcomed by the CEO of Mentoring Men, Ian Westmoreland, “Through our
free mentoring program, the 25twoZERO movement will strengthen our ability to address this very real
problem. The monies raised will help us to train more mentors in the South Western Sydney area which
sadly has one of the highest suicide rates in NSW”.

 

Mentoring Men Program Manager for South Western Sydney, Angela Guestrau has been working with
local organisations from Bankstown to Bowral to encourage men to step forward and ask for a mentor
to help them work through life’s challenges. “Our role is to support men in their life journey and also
find new mentors in the area so that mentoring can take place in a convenient location. The launch of
the 25twoZERO Movement shines the spotlight on the way men talk about their mental health and its
physical exercise theme is such a positive way to contribute”.

 

All rostered staff across Wests Group Macarthur venues on Thursday 25th February will be tracked
using smart watches and Wests pedometers which will be pooled cumulatively to establish if the goal
has been achieved.

 

To register and find out more how you can get involved, visit https://www.25twozero.org.au/