Bartenders at five Melton and Moorabool pubs were proud to be called “ugly” by patrons in order to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
Staff from Rockbank’s Gamekeepers Secret Inn, Mac’s Hotel, Melton Darts Club and the Courthouse and Royal hotels at Bacchus Marsh joined 260 bartenders from across Victoria to raise more than $200,000 for the quirky campaign, which wound up last week.
The Leukaemia Foundation’s Ugly campaign – an acronym for ‘understanding, generous, likeable, you’ – specifically supported regional Australians with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other related blood disorders.
Yvette Foxwell, of Gamekeepers Secret Inn, said this was the third year staff had joined in the campaign, and the “locals love it”.
“People come in and have a laugh at the T-shirt, which says ‘I’m Ugly – I need help’ and we get to tell them about it. Someone dear to me has leukaemia, so we love to support a number of similar causes like this as well.”
Leukaemia Foundation fundraising head Dave Simms said participants donned the Ugly T-shirts and hosted offbeat events, such as esky races and sumo wrestling, to have fun for what is a serious cause.
“The impact of being diagnosed with blood cancer is greater for people living in regional and rural Australia because it means leaving work, school and family behind to relocate to the city, adding to the emotional turmoil,” Mr Simms said.
Donations are still being counted, but the campaign has raised $1.8 million nationwide so far.
Details: www.uglybartender.org.au
