Almost $3000 raised at the annual Farm Flavours Picnic was yesterday handed over to Marcus Mission through Sunrise Rotary.
Marcus Mission event coordinator Andree Roberts said the $2700 would enable them to continue offering their suicide prevention programs free of charge.
“This will pay for our rent of a room and the cost for experts to come to Bundaberg,” Andree said.
“Everything is free, we want it to be completely accessible for men in the region aged 18-44.”
The group has been running monthly resilience workshops for men for the last year and Andree said they had seen a marked improvement in participants.
“We have helped 120 men so far.
“We’ve had 85 per cent ‘this has changed my life for the best’ feedback from the feedback form.”
The organisation is ready to roll out its next program which will offer one-on-one mentoring.
Andree said mentors shared common interests and met in informal settings, helping men who were not comfortable with traditional methods to seek help.
She lost her son to suicide and said she wished he had access to a program like this.
Sunrise Rotary president Peter Doohan said Rotary helped out at the picnic each year and in turn was able to help distribute the funds raised within the community.
“We can definitely see the need for suicide prevention and those sorts of programs,” Peter said.
“Marcus Mission are trying to develop and move out to communities in regional areas.
“We need as much support as we can get.”
Community and cultural services spokeswoman Cr Judy Peters said it was a pleasure to once again partner with Macadamias Australia to raise funds through the Farm Flavours Picnic.
It’s a privilege in this community to be able to do things like this,” Cr Peters said.
“In this particular instance the donation to Sunrise Rotary for Marcus Mission really touches the heart of many families who will gain strength from what the program is doing.
Macadamia Australia’s Sophie Steinhardt said the company was pleased to host the Farm Flavours Picnic each year.
“We are thrilled that the proceeds go to Marcus Mission,” Sophie said.
“It’s really important we have programs like Marcus Mission in our community.”
