And after donating to the Good Friday Appeal for a number of years, the Hotel has decided to lend support to a local initiative — the Benalla Young Sportsperson Trust — and donate a mighty $2500 from its ticket sales to the cause.
‘‘We weren’t doing any raffles and someone brought up the Benalla Young Sportsperson Trust,’’ Hotel owner Gary Fraser said.
‘‘We thought that was a good idea.
‘‘It’s only small, but people are willing to buy the tickets.
‘‘I can see (our support of BYST) going forward.’’
And it was the energy of two women, Barbara Bond and Judy Jones, which spearheaded the fundraising efforts.
‘‘It was Gary’s idea, and he said ‘Barb, can you start doing the tickets on a Friday night?’,’’ Ms Bond said. ‘‘And it’s gone from there.’’
And it’s Ms Bond and Ms Jones’ relentlessness that proved rather effective in raising money for the trust.
‘‘Come close to 7 o’clock (on a Friday night) we know that person hasn’t got a ticket, so you go get them,’’ Ms Bond said with a laugh.
‘‘But you’ve also got a lot who come in and get a ticket before they even go to the bar.’’
With Rettke’s Carrier Street Meats and Royal Hotel Goorambat providing the main sponsorship for the raffle, Ms Bond said the Farmers Arm’s regulars would always ‘‘yahoo’’ if they were to nab a win in the raffle.
In a presentation on Friday night, Ms Bond and Ms Jones presented Benalla Young Sportsperson trustees Bill Sykes and State Member for Euroa Steph Ryan with the cheque for $2500.
On accepting the donation, Ms Ryan thanked all the regulars who had brought a raffle ticket and supported the trust.
‘‘We all loved the Good Friday auction you ran over many years,’’ Ms Ryan said.
‘‘It was always a fixture on my calender.
‘‘And the fact you’ve decided to keep up that effort and are investing it back in the local community is greatly valued by the community.
‘‘This money will go to very good use to young people around town.’’