Jack Morgan is so committed to supporting young people in his community that he’s trekking enough km’s to smash out more than 23 marathons in 23 days. On 29 May 2026, he’ll be setting off on the Bibbulmun Track, one of the world’s great long distance walk trails. It stretches 1,000km between Albany and Kalamunda. Once Jack has trekked the entire track he’ll be known as a Bibbulmun ‘end-to-ender’, a title not many can claim.
Jack, you've said on your GoFundMe page that mentoring was a privilege. How did you find out about Raise and what was the mentoring experience like?
I first found out about Raise at the beginning of 2025 through an internship at KPMG. Going through some information that was made available to interns I must have come across something to do with charities and foundations, where I found Raise. Once I read about what Raise does I straight away did a search to see whether a program would run at Lesmurdie Senior High School, where I did all my secondary schooling, and was so pleased to see that there would be a program during terms 2 and 3 in 2025.
I had some experiences in the past that I could see being similar to mentoring with Raise, like coaching junior soccer teams and mentoring first-year university students in the same course as myself during my second year, so I thought it’s a volunteer role that could suit me. On top of that, having the opportunity to actively give back to the Lesmurdie community and high school that had given me so much meant I didn’t really have to think twice about whether this was the right thing for me to do. I was also yet to commit to any form of charitable endeavour for 2025 and had been hoping to find something that would go well with the other things I had going on in my life. I thought that Raise mentoring, a fixed commitment of a couple of hours each week for 20 weeks in total, would be the perfect endeavour to go with, and actually act as an outlet from other things in my life like my final year of study at university, working part-time in construction and playing soccer.
The mentoring experience was undoubtedly a positive one for me. A clear sign of that was how each week, on a Monday night, I always looked forward to mentoring the next day, and it really became a highlight of my week. That’s not to say that some sessions weren’t difficult in some way, but I always approached mentoring with a very open mindset, accepting that I would normally have very little idea of how the session would go with mentees. I think that meant I was quite capable of handling however most sessions went and could also leave mentoring each week without taking any kinds of negative feelings with me.
I believe the positive experience I had with Raise as a mentor can also be attributed to the training volunteer mentors receive before joining a program. I took two key things away from the training that set me on the right path for mentoring to be a positive experience for me, and to hopefully be half decent at it too! Firstly, that the mentoring sessions should be mentee-led, with mentors meeting their mentees where they are. And secondly, in many cases mentors could find it difficult to gauge how much they are helping their mentee(s), but it’s important to not become discouraged if they aren’t noticing obvious positive changes in their mentee. Positive changes could be unnoticeable for mentors, or become more obvious down the track after the mentee has finished the program.
Did it differ from your expectations?
In many ways, I’d have to say that mentoring didn’t differ significantly from what I expected it would be like. The one thing that did surprise me though was that I forgot how funny kids often start becoming around 13 to 14 years old! I think some amount of humour is super important in just about all settings, and when appropriate, at certain moments, that even includes mentoring sessions with young people. There were, of course, times where I had to try keep a straight face when something less appropriate was said, but overall, it was nice to watch young people develop socially in this way and bring a cheerful attitude to a space where difficult topics may come up in conversation.
Did you witness any impact or changes in the mentees in your program?
During terms 2 and 3 in 2025 I mentored two small groups of young people, so I got to work with a few different personalities and students who had engaged with Raise for a variety of reasons. The extent of changes I saw in the young people I mentored varied, but a common theme I noticed in several of them was that after 10 weeks they appeared more open and confident to actively participate in group discussions and activities, which was very encouraging for me to see.
Do you feel as though the mentoring training and/or experience impacted you personally in any way?
Well, the most obvious way mentoring has impacted me is in my decision to trek over a 1000km in just over 3 weeks for charity! If you told me 5 years ago that I would be doing this next month, I’d be very surprised. My experience with Raise, as it was at Lesmurdie Senior High School, where, as I said before, I did my secondary schooling, and I also still live in the Perth hills, has inspired me to find more opportunities to volunteer in the community that I live.
What inspired you to do the Bibbulmun Track?
I started thinking about trekking the Bibbulmun Track, or at least a large portion of it a couple of years ago, not long after I tried out trail running for the first time. I live near the northern terminus of the Bibbulmun Track in Kalamunda, and after running there a few times I had the thought that if I come across a charity that I really want to support, then raising money for that charity by completing the whole track would be a cool thing to do. Last year I, of course, had my experience with Raise as a mentor, so I revisited the idea I had a year before and started to plan how I would do this.
Also, for someone who loves being outside in nature and physically active, trekking the Bibbulmun Track is one of the last things I have planned to do after graduating from university last year and before starting full time work in July, and I really can’t think of a more fitting way to move from what feels like one chapter of my life to the next.
How long have you trained to trek the equivalent of a marathon a day for 23 days?
I started training specifically for the Bibbulmun Track basically as soon as my 2025 soccer season finished in September. For a few months, finishing the university semester and work certainly competed with how much I wanted to train, so I was often limited to short, early morning runs during the week and 1-2 long runs on trails on the weekend.
I’ve been travelling in Europe since the middle of February, where I’ve spent most of my time dedicated to training, spending a few days in one place and running/hiking anywhere from 30-50kms per day for 3 or 4 days of the week. By the time I get to doing the Bibbulmun Track I would have had the joy of hiking and running in England, Wales, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and France for 3 months!
Will you listen to podcasts or music on your trek?
I certainly will be! I would say I am quite a big audio person in that l like listening to things and find it to be a good way to learn, however, while training most days I often try go for a while before stopping to put my earphones in. When I eventually start listening to something it can help as a little boost when I feel like that’s what I need, or it can also help with zoning out more if that’s what I feel is required instead! Also, if I’m somewhere remote and I need to be conscious of navigating, I find that having earphones in can make that harder. A lot of the time on the Bibbulmun Track I might not have earphones in for that reason, but I’m normally quite happy to listen to the wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping.
When the earphones are in, most of all I like listening to business/commerce related things like The Economist magazine, and the Prof G Markets and Money of Mine podcasts. I really love a few podcasts hosted by comedians, too, but I’ve tried listening to them while training and found something doesn’t feel right about laughing to myself while running, so I’ll probably avoid those! Music wise, I like drum and bass and house if I’m looking to feel energised, but I’m sure while I’m on the trail for over 3 weeks, I’ll find the time to put on albums from the likes of Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, Calvin Harris and Kendrick Lamar.
What would you say to people thinking about mentoring or fundraising for Raise?
Firstly, on mentoring, for someone who is thinking about doing it but hasn’t acted yet, perhaps because they’re questioning whether they are qualified do it, I would say that way of thinking funnily enough might suggest they would be someone suited to mentoring. If you’re someone who sees mentoring as a significant and delicate responsibility, you’re probably someone who is generally quite thoughtful – exactly the kind of person that mentees need. The training for volunteer mentors I also found is very good and prepares people well to mentor a young person and feel confident in their ability to do so.
For people who are concerned about the time commitment, I would say that it’s quite minimal. For me, mentoring at one high school, it was only a couple of hours a week for 20 weeks. I believe that’s doable for many people, and it especially becomes doable if, like me, you have the experience where mentoring feels like it’s giving you something, not taking away something from your life.
And on fundraising for Raise, my answer is, of course, biased as someone who is doing just that, but I think it is a fantastic thing to do. I think it’s quite a serious thing to ask people to donate to a cause that you are promoting, so even though I had the personal experience of being a volunteer mentor with Raise, I still did research on the organisation by reading their recent Annual Impact Report. Before doing any sort of fundraising for a charity, reading a report like that is essential for me, and from doing that with Raise I could decide that the charity is one that I feel comfortable to receive donations for. Anyone who is thinking about fundraising for Raise should read the Annual Impact Report to get the peace of mind, as I did, that funds raised to a very large extent go directly towards helping young people.
