Bendigo duo start #IGOTUGIRL to help women in central Victoria

The group, #IGOTUGIRL, plan to roll out National Women Support Women Day on December 1 in Bendigo.

Amy O'Donnell founded the group after having "been through a lot personally (and) not knowing what services were around."

She established #IGOTUGIRL, a national women's support group, with her friend Amanda Robinson with the aim of educating more women about support services offered in the region.

"I thought it would be good to have a day where women support and help each other," Ms O'Donnell said. "A day to encourage, uplift and help other women."

She has established December 1 as National Women Support Women Day and plans to organise an event in Bendigo to show what help is available for women who need it.

"There are a lot (services for women) around," Ms O'Donnell said. "(But) some women suffer in silence, or either don't know what (help) is there or where to go.

"I had this vision to collaborate with the support services from Bendigo and surrounds and have them in the same place at the same time, so that women that don't know about these services (know what is available).

"If I had have known (about these types of groups) earlier it would have helped a lot more."

Ms O'Donnell and Ms Robinson said they would set up a governing board for #IGOTUGIRL and turn it into a not-for-profit organisation, which would plan the December event.

They have reached out to a number of community organisations and support services in Bendigo in an effort to get more ground support for #IGOTUGIRL.

"We're both passionate about the same thing and want to advocate for it," she said. "That's when we decided we needed to be more solid in our foundation and get the right people into meetings and set us up properly as organisation.

"We need a governing board to get this on its feet, to make an impact. We want to try to build some strong relationships with community-based organisations around us and for that you need a governing board."

Ms O'Donnell has big plans for the group and wants to take events to other regional towns.

"At the start we were a women's support group on Facebook but I want to go national," she said. "We want to take it to rural towns (for) the women in those towns that might not know whats around them and hopefully change some lives.

To get involved email IGOTUGIRL@outlook.com.au

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