The Twin Rivers teacher is being joined by 11 staff members and two members of the school community to walk as a part of the Black Dog Institute's One Foot Forward fundraising effort during October.
“Originally I was an individual, and I was talking with our assistant principal and mentioned ‘this is what I'm doing to raise money for mental health’, and she said that our welfare officer was looking for something to raise morale with COVID,” Ms Baldwin said.
“I emailed all of the staff and I have 13 people on board (the team) now.
“Every time you walk a certain amount of kilometres, you just keep adding it.
“One of my colleagues is doing nine kilometres a day, and as a team we will get to 100km no problem.
“Individually I'm doing between three and five kilometres most days with my dog.
“As a team we're walking 100km collaboratively, but as individuals they will also be walking to their own target, not everyone has a 100km target, some have 40, 50, but for me, mine is 100km.
“I thought 100km was achievable with the amount of kilometres I walk most days.”
Ms Baldwin has a personal connection to the Black Dog Institute.
“Mental health is something that's very close to my heart, I actually suffer from mental illness myself,” she said.
“(One Foot Forward) came up on my social media, and I thought ‘right, I want to do this’ and as soon as I shared it, I had all of my friends donate.
“Black Dog Institute is an organisation that I have actually utilised before, and I think they're a brilliant organisation.
“They've done a lot for mental health, especially recently, when it comes to COVID.
“I thought this was a great initiative, and when I found out they had a team opportunity, I thought it would be great for work.”
Ms Baldwin and her team originally had a target of $1000, but have already doubled that total.
“We have now raised just over $2000 already, and it doesn't start until October,” she said.
“Our target was $1000 for a team, and we've raised double that.
“My fundraising target is $500, but hopefully I'll raise more — I've already raised about $320.”
● To donate to Jalisa's fundraiser, and the Twin Rivers’ team's efforts, visit www.onefootforward.org.au/fundraisers/jalisabaldwin
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