Samantha climbs her rock 60 times
A Taranaki woman who set out to climb one of New Plymouth’s most famous landmarks 60 times for charity says she never gave up, despite coming close to losing her motivation.
Samantha Mckenzie climbed the 156-metre Paritutu Rock throughout October to raise money for the Mental Health Foundation. She said a number of people in her life had been affected by mental health.
In the first 10 days she had nearly made it to 20 climbs but near the end of the month was forced to do 20 ascents in three days to reach her target.
‘‘It was actually really mentally challenging,’’ she said. ‘‘I just had this massive mental barrier to get over, so I had a week where I did none.
‘‘At the start it was probably worse, I thought I’m not going to make this.
‘‘I knew I had to do it because I’d already had so many donations and I just had to remember who I was doing it for and why I was doing it and the awareness I was raising.’’
In 2016/17, 606 Kiwis lost their life to mental health, and in the last year Mckenzie’s school friend, a workmate and a close friend’s husband took their own lives, while her best friend had committed suicide when aged 18.
Mckenzie also had depression following the death of her partner’s father and the upheaval of moving from Wellington to New Plymouth.
After her final climb McKenzie managed to raise $2000 for the Mental Health Foundation, which is double the amount of money she expected to raise.
‘‘I originally wanted $1000 and
Where to get help
If it is an emergency or you feel you or someone you know is at risk, please call 111
For information about suicide prevention, seewww.spinz.org.nz
I didn’t think I would get that,’’ she said.
She was ‘‘blown away’’ by the support from the community and the Mental Health Foundation, which checked in to make sure she was okay.
Mckenzie said she often met people while climbing who wanted to chat with her about what she was doing.
‘‘I would meet people up on the rock and they would ask where they could donate,’’ she said, although she admitted at times she ‘‘wasn’t in the mood to be noticed’’ when people recognised her purple charity T-shirt.
Mckenzie thinks she will be giving some time before making another journey to the top, even though she’s enjoyed the climb.
Donations are still being accepted. To support Mckenzie donate at events.mentalhealth.org.nz/ fundraisers/sammyemma/theclimb---paritutu-rock