Garden Hotel Fishing Club hosts major raffle for Tradies in Sight, men's mental health

They are selling raffle tickets for a major raffle which will be drawn at the Garden Hotel on Sunday, March 5 at 3pm, and ticket-holders go in the draw to win a boat, fishing gear and vouchers.

Club president Alan Herbert said the club wanted to support a local charity and Tradies in Sight was an obvious choice.

READ ALSO: Charity car wash raises over $3500 for men's mental health

"I think the environment around men's mental health is changing so much," Mr Herbert told the Daily Liberal.

"I run a rail company and we deal with these guys - they're working really hard and they come and tell us they've got personal problems ... it's massive for everybody," he said.

"Men are men. I'm a bloke and you like to be a bloke, but if you don't talk about it, suicide is not a good thing. A lot have been affected by that."

Tickets are available now for the raffle and can be purchased from the Garden Hotel.

READ ALSO: Funding to expand mental health access for our TAFE tradies

Prizes on offer include an 11-foot tinny - a "great little study boat" that "every wants to win", according to Mr Herbert - a $1000 voucher for a marine outlet, life jackets and an anchor.

Major sponsors including Red Dirt Camping and Boss Kitchens have donated fishing gear, eskys, a jukebox and more.

Mr Herbert said tickets have been selling "thick and fast" and "the support from the locals has been unbelievable".

This isn't the first time the fishing club has helped members of the community.

"We've given away money to local blokes who are struggling," Mr Herbert said.

The not-for-profit organisation also helped local communities with water, food and vouchers during the drought.

"We're also right into cleaning-up the river and sustaining the river for our kids and the future generation," Mr Herbert said.

Tradies in Sight founder Bruno Efoti said it was "incredible" that the fishing club was supporting his charity, which is working to bring men's mental health support to TAFE students.

He said the money raised by the raffle would help the charity expand its Inspection Pit TAFE program to more trades.

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"We're looking to expand our capacity to be able to reach out to those tradies we haven't been able to engage with in the past," he told the Daily Liberal.

The money would also go towards completing the organisation's food trailer, which Mr Efoti hopes will help reach more tradies in their places of work.

"We have about 7000 tradies in the Dubbo area. A lot of those come to our shed but there's a certain demographic that don't ... the concept of the trailer is to take it to worksites and cook for them and with that we can sit them down and chat with them and make a connection," Mr Efoti said.

"We'll give them some information about Tradies in Sight and when they're ready to talk they can come to the shed. It's using food as a connector."