Coles regional manager’s supermarket marathon raises tens of thousands for Movember

When Ben Reeve revealed his mental health struggles to his colleagues, they got behind him for a stellar Movember fundraising effort.

Coles Victorian city regional manager Ben Reeve reaches the finish line of his Movember marathon in Smith St, Collingwood. Picture: Hamish Blair

As a leader, Ben Reeve thought talking about his mental health struggles would make him seem weak.

But it turns out his vulnerability has had a far greater impact than he could have ever imagined.

On Friday the Coles regional manager, 36, ran the equivalent of a marathon to all the supermarket chain’s stores from Malvern to Port Melbourne to raise money and awareness for Movember and men’s mental health.

Each store held a fundraising event, from bake sales to team brunches, to support his marathon effort.

Ben Reeve wanted to raise awareness of mental health after suffering anxiety. Picture: Hamish Blair

“I wanted to do something big at the end of Movember. I was out running one Sunday morning and thought how far it is between stores, 41km is pretty challenging, I mentioned it to my boss and he supported it,” Mr Reeve said.

“I’m a little bit overwhelmed at how far it’s gone. I set a $3000 target and we surpassed that in a few days. We hope to raise $30,000.”

Mr Reeve was inspired to open up about his own experience with anxiety after an anonymous internal Coles survey revealed hundreds of employees struggled with mental health during the pandemic.

“I’ve had mental health issues in my life,” said Mr Reeve, who lost his partner in a car accident when he was younger.

“As a leader I felt nervous talking about them. There’s that blokey thing that it makes you feel a bit weak when you show vulnerability, but it’s opened up conversations that amaze me. So many people struggle with it.”

Coles employees turned out in droves to support Ben Reeve on his supermarket marathon. Picture: Hamish Blair

Movember statistics reveal a quarter of men globally had declining mental health, but only 16 per cent had spoken to a health care provider about it.

“I believe this is one of the biggest challenged to society. I’m a little proud of myself to be brave enough to talk about it,” Mr Reeve said.

“Anxiety tries to hide parts of yourself, you put a mask on it, so I never thought I’d talk about this stuff. If more people at a leadership level talk about the fact they suffer from it, it helps other people feel that it’s not just them.”

Coles is supporting Movember.

Originally published as Coles regional manager’s supermarket marathon raises tens of thousands for Movember