On June 30, 2019, Scott Plunkett received one of the hardest phone calls he has ever had to answer. The phone call was his mother hysterical on the other end and a police officer telling him his brother had taken his own life.
It’s not something you ever get over, but Scott made it his mission to raise money for the Black Dog Institute in the hope that no other brother, mother, family or friend has to go through the heartache that he and his family have endured.
“The evening before I was talking to Brett, planning a trip to Swansea. He seemed fine, sounded happy, was joking around and I suspected nothing. It left me with so many unanswered questions,” Scott said.
“Brett was only 37 years old and left behind four children.
“The Mates in Mining Fight Night have the Brett Plunket Memorial Trophy dedicated to Brett each year which is wonderful.
“I wanted to do something to help a service that could’ve helped him. Every year for my birthday I do a fundraiser for the Black Dog Institute, and this year I’m taking it up a notch.”
Brett signed up for the Black Dog’s One Foot Forward campaign. Held in October each year participants raise money by walking 50 kilometres.
“I was talking to my mate Shannon about it and he said, ‘why don’t we walk the 50 kays in one day?’
“So, I got on Google Maps and worked out that 50 kilometres would roughly be from our Conveyor Partners Mt Thorley workshop to the Wollombi Tavern.”
Scott and Shannon started with a goal of raising $1,000 which they surpassed quite quickly and now after raising more than $5,000 the goal has become $10,000.
“Mental health is so close to our hearts after losing Brett and everyone has been touched by suicide or know someone who has, so we want to do what we can to raise funds and develop awareness and knowledge around ‘it’s okay not to be okay’ and keeping out mates safe. The catchphrases are great, but we need to do more.
“We’ve already raised a great amount of money and if a couple of people get something out of the walk and us talking about it then it’s worth it,” Scott said.
More than a dozen companies have jumped on board either donating or giving supplies and items for the raffle the boys are planning to hold at the Wollombi Tavern once the walk is finished.
There’s already 20 people walking with Shannon and Scott, either the entire way or part of the way.
“The Singleton Fire Brigade has jumped on board as well, they’ll most likely be our support vehicle for the day.
“The support has been unreal, together we really can make a difference.”
| You can donate by searching for Scott Plunkett via the One Foot Forward walk and here: https://www.onefootforward.org.au/fundraisers/scottplunkett202854/one-foot-forward The walk will start at 5am at the Conveyor Partners workshop at Mt Thorley and finish at around 5pm at the Wollombi Tavern for an evening of fundraising and being with your mates. |
