A Sunshine Coast men’s mental health charity is planning to break the record for world’s largest barbecue this Father’s Day.
Grab Life by the Balls founder Sam Parker started the organisation in 2016 after observing the negative statistics around men’s mental health in Australia.
“I just started seeing a really big need in the stats around mental health, and I was like ‘wow, these are really bad – seven men die of suicide in Australia every day of the nine total suicides, how can we turn that around?’,” the chiropractor said.
He believes the barbecue, from September 1 (Father’s Day) to September 8, can improve men’s mental health by developing stronger social connections and mateship.
“Any longevity study or health and wellbeing study or happiness study shows strong social connections being one of the key pillars to living a longer, happier life,” he said.
Mr Parker said men having just three or more close friends could have a positive impact on their overall wellbeing.
“There is a great paper around three or more close mates being super-beneficial to reduce risk factors for mental health issues as well as physical health issues – even things like heart attacks or strokes,” he said.
Grab Life by the Balls hosts frequent, smaller events all over Australia, with Mr Parker noticing the effects of mateship on the attendees’ wellbeing.
He recounts the experience of one attendee in particular.
“He was in a really bad spot: he had a cancer diagnosis, his wife from nowhere got some kind of blood infection and she was in an induced coma. Coming down for brekky was basically the sort of thing that turned all of that crap around and made it a really good year,” he said.
“The thing he said was not the conversation, it wasn’t about making men chat, it was about the belonging and the connection that made the change.”
Mr Parker believes the record-breaking barbecue, called Grab Life by the BBQ, will be a fun way to improve men’s mental health compared to other fundraisers.
“When it comes to men’s health and wellbeing there are not too many fun things,” he said.
“International Men’s Day is usually about suicide prevention or getting your prostate checked, so I think it’s a great call to action and the uniqueness and the fun part about it differs from many other fundraisers.”
The current world record for largest barbecue is currently held by Mexico with 45,252 people.
Mr Parker believes attempting to breaking the record is a great way to capitalise on Australian culture.
“The barbecue has a big thing to do with Australian culture, so it’s interesting the last time I checked we have no world records, so let’s do something about that,” he said.
Individuals can register for the barbecue at grablifebythebbq.com and are sent a follow-up email with all the remaining details.
From the registrations, Grab Life by the Balls will track how many people attend barbecues over the course of the week. Businesses are also welcome to get involved.
“You can just have your employees and have a pretty low-key barbecue or we can turn it into a bit of a marketing event and engage your customers and community, and get around it,” Mr Parker said.
Grab Life by the Balls will also be hosting other events to advocate for men’s mental health.
On August 30 it will host Grab Life by the Dodgeball in partnership with The Station, with participants taking part in a competitive dodgeball competition.
It will also hold a Father’s Day extravaganza on September 1 that is open to the whole family, starting at 10am.
“It’s just a massive Father’s Day extravaganza at The Station. There’s going to be heaps of stuff happening, so basically just grab dad – he’s going to have a great time,” Mr Parker said.
All proceeds from the Father’s Day barbecue will go back into the organisation, so it can deliver more social events to improve men’s mental health.
“All the work and proceeds will be going back into growing the organisation – to raise the awareness to help keep us viable and keep us being able to talk about mateship and all the things we want to talk about,” Mr Parker said.
“It’s just a simple concept. We’ve got balls and a lot of heart, but I think this will give us a bit of legs as well.”
Kelsey Reid is a journalism intern with Sunshine Coast News.
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