Scarborough teenager Georgia Ongarezos raises $11,000 for Lifeline WA in midnight Perth to Rottnest swim

In the dark of night while most West Australians slept, a Scarborough teenager swam almost 20 kilometres between Rottnest and Perth to raise money for crisis support service Lifeline. The remarkable feat finished in the early hours of Thursday by 18-year-old Georgia Ongarezos was inspired by her own mental health struggle throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The solo swim has so far raised $12,000 for Lifeline WA and helped shine a light on mental health issues. Speaking to The West Live host Jenna Clarke this morning, just hours after completing her 19.7 kilometre swim, Ms Ongarezos said she hoped her contribution could go towards funding training for volunteers at the service. “Swimming has always been my lifeline. It saves my life and it keeps me sane so I just wanted to incorporate swimming and mental illness together and that's how this all came about,” she told Clarke. “I went through a really hard period. I went through a depressive stage. “In that time, I thought to myself, ‘how many other people do I know that are going through this?’ “I counted 22 people that I know who are either struggling from mental health or know someone struggling from mental health. “One of my friends called Lifeline and they saved her life, she wouldn't be around today if it wasn't for them. “I realised that I needed a goal to work towards. I just, kind of, thought ‘I've got to get this going’. “So, I swam from Rottnest to Cottesloe in the dark to raise awareness for mental health and money for Lifeline WA.” Ms Ongarezos is an accomplished swimmer, having completed her first solo crossing to Rottnest at 15 years old but this was her first gruelling night swim. “It's been a night. Conditions were literally amazing. We had a great westerly pushing us over nice and flat, low swell temperature was 21C which is really warm. It was so, so, so lucky,” she said. “My amazing crew. I had two boats. On my boats were skippers coaches, support, friends and then I had two paddlers as well on kayaks.” Ms Ongarezos said the swim was five months in the making amid the COVID-19 pandemic and she trained between four and eight times a week. “Everyone has been affected by COVID. (In) my age group we definitely (were). I had all these plans for this year and next year and nothing went to plan. Pretty sure everyone else is the same,” she said. Lifeline WA chief executive officer Lorna MacGregor said the efforts of fundraisers like Georgia would make a direct impact on the services ability to answer every call from West Australians. “The funds raised by people like Georgia are used to train more telephone crisis volunteers, which is the key to answering more calls,” she said. “The recent demand for our vital service has been unprecedented, and our WA volunteers have stepped up, answering 80 per cent more calls in August this year compared to the same time last year.” You can contribute to Ms Ongarezos’ fundraising here: www.mycause.com.au/page/235525/georgia-ongarezos Lifeline’s 24/7 telephone crisis support service is available on 13 11 14.