Kincraig Hotel's Sam Brooksby pours a beer while wearing his U.G.L.Y. Bartender of the Year T-shirt. He hopes to raise $1500 for the Leukaemia Foundation over the next month.
HE may have already mastered the perfect beer pour but now local lad Sam Brooksby wants to take home the title of U.G.L.Y. Bartender of the Year.
A fundraising event for the Leukaemia Foundation, the acronym stands for "Understanding, Generous, Likeable You".
Sam, who has been a bartender at the Kincraig Hotel for just over two years, will be hosting a couple of events over the next month to raise money for the charity.
Exolaining his motivation for entering, he said: "It is a good cause," he said. "They need all the money they can get. I felt I could make a difference."
Sam said he would be organising a Melbourne Cup fashion parade and a monster raffle to raise funds to go towards helping out families from rural communities.
It's the second year he has been involved in the competition and he will be up against more than 150 bartenders from across the State, including Tina Symmonds from the Naracoorte Hotel and Billie Dawkins from Penola's Prince of Wales.
"Last year we raised $1200 and lots of local businesses got involved," Sam said. "This year we are hoping for around $1500."
Sam said it was a great community project and "a good way to get the town's name out there.
"A lot of people know someone who has been affected by cancer and this is a way to help as many people out as possible."
According to the Leukaemia Foundation, 16 people in SA are diagnosed with cancer of the blood each week.
Every $80 raised through U.G.L.Y. Bartender of the Year will give a regional family a place to call home for a night in the city during their treatment.
The Leukaemia Foundation is the only national charity dedicated to the care and cure of patients and families with leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma and related blood disorders.
It receives no ongoing government funding and relies on the community's support.
