April 10^th  2019 – Award-winning comedian Rhian Wood-Hill will support Lifeline Aotearoa by walking to each of his New Zealand shows on the “500 Mile Walking Tour of How I Met My Father,” ending his trek at The Proclaimers’ Auckland concert in May.

Rhian will be donating 50% of ticket sales from his shows on the tour to Lifeline Aotearoa and also raising funds through a givealittle page. He has already raised $1750 and walked more than 150 miles (241 kms).

He will not be taking the easy route as he walks to each of his four shows across the North Island. Starting in Raumati Beach, he will walk to Whanganui, through to Napier, Rotorua and finally end his walk in Auckland just in time for The Proclaimers concert in May.

Rhian’s motivation for supporting Lifeline Aotearoa comes from his own experience with loss: supporting Lifeline Aotearoa is a tribute to his sister who partly lived with Rhian’s father growing up and took her own life before Rhian was able meet her. Rhian also remembers that at the age of 18 there had already been three boys around his age that had passed away “…one of whom had been a childhood friend - “it rocked my community.”

Lifeline receives over 10,000 calls per month and helps an average of 8 people a day at high risk of suicide. With no government funding for this much needed service, Lifeline relies on donations; it costs an average of $25 to respond to each call.

Rhian Wood-Hills’s 500 Mile Walking Tour is a creative take on The Proclaimers song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)".

“If you take out the romance of the song it's just a song about how much you'd do for another person,” Rhian says. “I believe everyone has a mate who they would walk 500 miles for if they were in mental pain.”

"How I met My Father" is an autobiographical comedy which follows Rhian’s experiences of meeting his father at the age of twenty-one.

500 Mile Walking Tour of How I Met My Father – Tour Dates

3rd April – Reddin’s, Raumati Beach.

11th April – Lucky Bar, Whanganui.

22nd April – Cabana Bar, Napier.

27th April – Little Theatre, Rotorua.