The Weipa Rodeo Association committee has been raising funds for Talk About It Tuedsay through Chicken Poop Bingo, but they’ll ramp things up at the Albatross Bay Resort next week with a special charity night.
WEIPA and Napranum locals are encouraged to head to the Alby next Tuesday for a bucking good time in support of one of Cape York’s most important homegrown groups, Talk About It Tuesday.
Weipa Rodeo Association has thrown its weight behind mental health awareness, naming Talk About It Tuesday as this year’s partner charity.
To help out, it has organised a pre-rodeo event at the Albatross Bay Resort.
Vice-president Reuben Slingo said they were proud to be supporting Talk About It Tuesday ahead of the 18th annual rodeo.
“It’s a pretty amazing group to be supporting,” Mr Slingo said.
“Talk About It Tuesday is local and mental health hits every local one way or another in their lives.
“We want to do everything we can to support Talk About It Tuesday and promote it and get the word out there that people aren’t alone when they’re feeling like all else is lost, there are places to turn to and people to talk to and support there – that’s what it’s all about.”
The centrepiece of Tuesday’s fundraiser will be a mechanical bull, with punters able to get a taste of the rodeo action.
“It will be a good gathering, a bit of a calm before the storm of the rodeo, a chance to get out and have a couple of beers and pay for a ride on the mechanical bull,” Mr Slingo said.
Talk About It Tuesday co-founder Jackie Perry, who founded the group along with fellow Cape mum Debbie Jackson after they both lost their sons to suicide, said she would be heading to the Alby for the fundraiser.
Weipa has a strong track record of supporting Talk About It Tuesday.
“We’ll put up our little stall with information and free bags with suicide prevention booklets and a journal and merchandise,” Ms Perry said.
“It’s just amazing that both the Laura and Weipa rodeos have taken on this subject this year; it’s really special and it’s starting to bring mental health awareness out in the open.”
Ms Perry said the money raised in Weipa would go towards continuing the group’s suicide prevention and mental health awareness campaign.
“We can use the money to get more motivational speakers up into the Cape and moving around in different communities,” she said.
“We also have a dream of one day having a helpline, someone from the Cape who people can ring, maybe each community has one or two people who can be on call, people that understand what life is like up here.
“We’re just blown away with how our Cape communities come together for something like this, it’s really, really wonderful.”
The Weipa Rodeo Association has already been busy raising funds through Chicken Poop Bingo at the Weipa Camping Ground over the past couple of months.
