Not content to rest on its laurels after taking out last year's Australian Hotels Association national accolade for Outstanding Community Service and Achievement - the George Tavern at Greenhills has started 2018 with the same high-level of commitment and dedication to its local community.
In addition to offering numerous monthly fundraising opportunities, hotel owner Janine Redman and her team recently went one step further, holding a Community Appreciation Night to educate local groups wanting to raise money through the hotel.
The event encouraged local organisations to come and learn how they might better utilise the hotel's weekly raffles and joker draw to raise money.
"The Community Appreciation Night was an opportunity for local sporting groups and other non-profit organisations to come along and meet each other, to get a better understanding of how committed we are to our community, and to learn how we can help them raise money for their groups," Janine said.
On the night, locals heard from guest speakers including Christ Rafferty - Maitland Football Club and Dale Woods from the Old Boars Motorcycle Club who have both been successfully running fundraisers at the hotel for several years.
"Sponsorship plays a huge role in maintaining any local football club as player registration only covers about 30 per cent of the running costs," Chris said.
"And The George, as well as giving upfront sponsorship every year, also lets us participate in regular joker draws and raffles and some years we've been able to make more than $10,000 in a month."
"And The George, as well as giving upfront sponsorship every year, also lets us participate in regular joker draws and raffles and some years we've been able to make more
than $10,000 in a month..."
Each month, The George allocates its weekly raffle and joker draw to a community group, allowing them to come into the hotel and raise money. By providing this opportunity, groups like the Old Boars have been able to raise funds for organisations including the Prostate Cancer Alliance and The Mark Hughes Foundation.
"In the past 10 years we've been able to raise in excess of $250,000 for our nominated charities," Dale said.
"It works because we've got more than 100 members and we said to them, if they come and support The George, then The George will support us and that's what we did."
"It works because we've got more than 100 members and we said to them, if they come and support The George, then The George will support us and that's what we did..."
According to Janine, it is the generosity and support of The George's regular patrons, and the community in general, that allows non-profit groups like Maitland Football Club and the Old Boars to fundraise so successfully.
"We do have a great team here and supporting the local community is a huge part of what we do," she said.
"But I can guarantee you, at the start of each month our regulars will be asking 'who are we supporting this month?' They are so happy every week to put their hand in their pocket, and sure they might win a meat tray out of it, but they're happy just to be contributing to their local community and charity groups. We are very lucky to be part of such a generous and caring community."
To learn more go to georgetavern.com.au