Local people can feel good and do good by supporting a fund-raising massage stall being run by Deakin Warrnambool nursing students at tonight’s summer night market at Lake Pertobe.

The massages will be offered by three qualified remedial massage therapists to help raise funds for health equipment and health projects that the students will provide during their forthcoming study trip to the Philippines.

The stall’s massage therapists will be charging a dollar a minute and will be at Lake Pertobe from 3pm today.

The nursing students are also seeking donations at the stall of toothbrushes that they will distribute to children in the Philippines as part of their health education work.

The six locals will be part of a team of 30 nursing and midwifery students from Deakin’s campuses throughout Victoria who will spend 19 days overseas as part of their studies.

Warrnambool group leader Peta Kampman said the group would leave for the Philippines later this month and work in health units in the city of Angeles, north of Manila, and in the Dumaguete rural area.

They will carry out health assessments on local people as well as health education activities with children on such matters as dental hygiene, which is where the toothbrushes will come in handy.

Ms Kampman said the money raised at tonight’s massage stall would be used to fund rehabilitation equipment for hospitals in the Philippines, to support a community garden at one of the schools where the students would work, and glucometers and accessories for blood sugar monitoring.

She said donors could provide their email addresses tonight to receive a post-trip report about the work the students do while they are overseas.