On Wednesday, the volunteers at Mudgee's Nalag (National Association of loss and grief) were presented with a cheque for $12,000 from Laticia and Brody Crawford of Smokin' Bro and Co fame.
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Brody said the volunteer-run centre was an obvious choice for the donation which came thanks to excess funds from the previously not-for-profit Mudgeeque event. Brody and Laticia took over the event which Brody helped create along with Ray Whitfield previously and turned it into a business.
"Laticia actually chose Nalag. Loss and grief - I suppose everybody deals with that sometime in their life, or multiple times in their life. And it just made sense to to help out an organisation like this," he said.
Tickets for the winter event went on sale recently and Brody said sales have been steady.
"We're making it a little bit bigger than it was previously. We had a bit of feedback from last year's festival and we've really planned it to take on that feedback - make it bigger, give more space, more of everything to try and build it up a bit more for the region," he said.
"It's held at a time of year that's generally quiet in Mudgee. So that will help bring in more revenue for all local businesses."
Nalag coordinator Liz Mayberry said the money is hugely appreciated and will go towards bolstering their services.
"We will put it towards a lot of training for our current volunteers and also potentially new volunteers in the loss and grief space and education in the community," Liz said.
Sadly, for Nalag their time at their current address - which they have been in since 2014 - is coming to an end, with the building slowly falling into disrepair. They are desperate for a new location.
"Sadly, we are going to lose the use of our premises in Mortimer Street. So we are currently looking for somewhere else to go," Liz said.
"We need a couple of rooms so that we can support clients and run our volunteer work.
"It's been a great place to establish ourselves here. We've become quite well known community and have had hundreds of people come through the centre here. So it will be quite sad to see it go."
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