Kalgoorlie-Boulder chief executive happy to have feet back on solid ground after 130m abseil for Variety WA

A Kalgoorlie-Boulder chief executive was happy to have her feet back on the ground after descending a 130m building in Perth’s CBD to raise funds for Variety WA. Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Simone de Been, her children Jessie and Daniel, along with her daughter’s boyfriend Sam Symons, joined hundreds of “plungers” for the Central Park Plunge last weekend. “It was much scarier than anticipated, we were all quite calm until we got up and we had to walk backwards to the ledge,” Ms de Been said. “It’s scary going over and having to take that first step over the building and trusting that the ropes would hold you. “They try to encourage you to stop and look around and take the view in — I think I did that for about two seconds and I just wanted to get to the bottom.” The team, The Jumping Beans, raised just shy of $10,000 for Variety WA by abseiling down the tower. The contribution helped Variety WA raise $75,000 across participating teams — smashing the organisation’s $60,000 goal. “Those funds are going to mean so much to hundreds of kids,” Ms de Been said. “They will help children, not just in the Goldfields, but across WA living with sickness, disadvantage or disability. It all goes a long way to just making their lives a little bit easier.” Funds raised are set to help dozens of children living with disability access essential equipment to help them communicate, get mobile, learn, play and laugh.