Freemasons raise funds for Central Coast ARAFMI

On Saturday 9th August, The Central Coast Lodge (TCCL) organised and executed a highly successful Bunnings Sausage Sizzle at West Gosford to raise awareness and fundraising for Central Coast ARAFMI, a mental health organisation based on the Central Coast with locations in Narara, Kincumber and Bateau Bay.

Central Coast ARAFMI (pronounced ah-raf-me) started as a social space in Kincumber especially for people impacted by mental ill health. Created by families and loved ones, this was the first space on the Central Coast exclusively dedicated to whole families impacted by mental health issues. In 1994 they launched the Yakkalla pilot program in Bateau Bay.

Today, Yakkalla program at Bateau Bay continues, along with The Trust (Beyond the Stigma) in Narara, providing social and recreational activities for people impacted by mental health issues and trauma, alongside ARAFMI Family and Carer support program.
In addition to these programs, as part of University and TAFE partnerships, Central Coast ARAFMI also provide the Central Coast community with reciprocal learning environments.
Programmes are open to NDIS and non-NDIS participants meaning that anyone who is impacted by mental ill health can access support.
There’s been mixed feelings towards and approaching Mental Health. Whilst the old school approach of ‘man up and get on with it’ these days isn’t always the best approach and whilst there are good organisations out in our Community like Central Coast ARAFMI there is still a stigma of asking a family member, colleague or friend for assistance when times get difficult and personal coping mechanisms just don’t cut the mustard.

From a personal perspective, I wanted to do something positive and motivational for a few close fellow Freemasons in our area who have been battling with mental health recently. However, regardless of their personal experiences and their own journey with coping mechanisms and support they’ve been shining examples of what an active Freemason can achieve in the community, helping out even on their not so good days. I wanted to do this not only for the charity but for them and to show them that they have a Lodge full of supportive Brothers they can trust and know will have their backs regardless of their good and bad days.

I’m glad to say that they are making huge leaps and bounds from what they were a few months ago which did make me reflect and to think more about my own personal circumstances and how we can be more supportive of each other, even by sending a simple text or a short phone call just to say g’day and how they are travelling – it can really bring some positivity to someone’s day, especially if they are fighting their own ‘Black Dog’ as Winston Churchill would describe it. A text out of the blue can always be a nice surprise to someone if they are going through their worst day.

On Saturday 9th August, the day had come. It was an early start, around 6am to get the sausages and onions out of the fridge into prepared eskies with ice to keep them chilled for the duration of the day. A work van was fully loaded of meaty treats and set off to Bunnings West Gosford to report into staff and to start preparing for the day ahead.
Unfortunately, the weather for us could have been better, however, during a brief lull between 8:00AM to around 09:30AM it took off in full swing which a continuous line was present awaiting their Bunnings treat of bread and meat!

Throughout the day we all worked well together, we bonded as a team and thoroughly enjoyed our time together in seeing something months in the planning and preparation stages take off. It brought new and experienced Brethren together by assisting our local community and a worthwhile charity. There was banter, some music in the background and plenty of smiles as the hours passed and the funds were raised.

We even managed to sneak a quick group photo at the time (when it eventually got quiet for a minute or two before it kicked back up again) to capture the event. As you can see from the images there’s smiles all around and being well represented in our branded hats and cooking aprons. They say that Masons wear aprons, in this case, they do!

The event was a great success and to date we have raised over $4,000 for Central Coast ARAFMI through various fundraisers which we hope will continue to grow.

With the generous support of Freemasons on the Central Coast (FotCC) who agreed to provide ‘charity activity support’ by donating $1,000 to cover expenses (such as purchasing the goods for the event), and with the kind assistance from MasoniCare (our Grand Lodge Charity), we will shortly reach our goal to raise $10,000 for Central Coast ARAFMI.

My heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Freemasons on the Central Coast and The Central Coast Lodge for their support, patience and assistance in this, our first sausage sizzle event for a while.

Postscript

Following our event, Bunnings West Gosford have invited us back (following glowing reports of our attitude, respect and commitment) on Saturday 15th November 2025.
So if you’re in the local area, why not pop by for a chat and a banger!