Hawke’s Bay mates clean their way around NZ for men’s mental health

Two Hawke’s Bay mates are trading window cleans for food, fuel and somewhere to sleep as they travel New Zealand raising money for men’s mental health.

George Field and Ollie Sowman are back in their home region as part of a 20-day road trip through their Christchurch-based business, Go Windows.

The 21-year-olds are attempting to complete the journey without spending their own money on travel expenses, while donating $25 for every property they clean.

Now on day 12, they have raised about $3,300 towards their $5,000 target and hope to raise as much as possible.

“We’re looking to take it as far as we can, in terms of the donation side of things,” Sowman said.

For the pair, the cause is personal.

“There’s definitely been some rough times mentally in our adolescence, not knowing what to do about it and just bottling up all that emotion,” Field said.

“I feel like we’re now in the position where we can raise some awareness. We want to touch as many souls as we can.”

Sowman said raising awareness had been his initial motivation, with fundraising providing another way to help.

“I just wanted to raise awareness for mental health rather than the money. But the money is good for the causes as well.”

The road trip began with a suggestion from Field’s mother. Wanting to visit Hawke’s Bay, the pair decided to make a wider journey of it, adding a men’s mental health focus and sharing their progress online.

Sowman said the response along the way had been “pretty awesome”.

“People are just helping us out, giving us accommodation, food, fuel.

“But the whole thing for us is cleaning those places for a night’s stay or a lunch.”

The pair are spending a week cleaning windows in Hawke’s Bay before heading towards Taupō and Auckland.

New Plymouth is another possible stop, although their route is still taking shape.

“We’re just going to figure that out as we go,” Field said.

Their business began with a conversation at the pub about life after university.

“We were just like, what do we do with our life? We don’t really want to sit down at an office,” Field said.

They weighed up options including lawn mowing before settling on window cleaning. Nearly seven months later, Go Windows is operating in Christchurch, with ambitions to expand elsewhere.

Both have completed their degrees. Sowman studied a Bachelor of Commerce, while Field studied a Bachelor of Industrial Product Design.

Before setting off on the road trip, they also ran two half marathons in three days as part of RUN 72, a fundraiser organised by Christchurch-based Lads Without Labels.

People can follow their journey on Instagram at @go.windows or contribute through their Givealittle page.