Yesterday, Paul ‘Stumpy’ Laverty and Ron Neaves went out with two ute and trailer-loads of supplies to the Tamworth depot of the ‘Doing It For Our Farmers’ drought appeal initiative.

Two and a half pallets of water (one from the Bowra Hotel), donated groceries from concerned locals (including quite a bit of pet food) and $2900 worth of $100 Eftpos cards were loaded onto the utes at the Macksville Ex-Services Club yesterday afternoon.

“This is the second load that’s gone out this week,” Club CEO Judy Ward said.

“The whole community seems to be really embracing this. One lovely lady came in and handed over $1000, plus a lot of locals have been donating $100 or $200.

“Our staff gave all their Christmas funds to the office to donate, and the board has put in another $1000.

Judy said she was accosted by Stumpy in Foodworks at the weekend.

“He just yelled out ‘Hey You! I wanna talk to you!’. He nearly scared the life out of me,” she said.

“But he was just wanting to offer his help to take some of the donations over. Trevor Jemison then offered a trailer up to get more out there straight away – because it’s needed now.”

Stumpy said he’s experienced what drought can be like out in the western country.

“I’m off the land and I know how hard it is. I’m retired and I can give the time. Plus I love helping people,” he said.

Peter Neaves said his 81-year-old dad, Ron, felt exactly the same way and was always up for a drive.

And Access Fuels has generously donated 200L of diesel to help get the goods out there.

The stark reality farmers out west are currently facing. Warning, may contain upsetting footage.

On Monday, Club staff delivered a whole bin-full of pumpkins from local farmers, plus 60 kg of sweet potatoes and some pickles and jams from the Tutts at Nambucca Valley Aquaponics, a pallet of water from Foodworks, and the huge swag of groceries the community had donated at the Macksville Club over the past two weeks.

The pumpkins were donated to the Tamworth CWA ladies who are going to use them to make pumpkin scones for families and the rest was sorted into piles at the depot in the closed-down Carpet Court building to be distributed to families in need.

“It was really organised and there were lines of tables where they were categorising different donations,” driver Mitchell Ward said.

“There was a toiletries table, cans on another, rice and pasta on another – all the stuff was being sorted into boxes and cloth bags and each family was being delivered a box and a bag when they required it.”

“The main organiser, Sue Ellen Wilkin, said the hardest task was getting the farmers to actually accept the donations.”

Chris Richards-Murray, who helped drive the first load out on Monday, was quite affected by the state of the drought as they drove through the area.

“It just sort of hits home when you see how dry it is out there, basically, and just seeing how much appreciation is on their faces when you deliver the donations,” he said.

The two boys, along with Eliza Gadsby, said they were glad they could do something to help out.

“This is just what we do, as Australians,” Chris said.

“But it makes you feel a bit better rather than waiting around and doing nothing.”

The trio said the donated water bottles were heading straight out to the town of Mullaley which has run completely dry.

The rest of the donations are earmarked for Mudgee, Gunnedah and Tamworth, plus everywhere in between. 

“Basically they’re just trying to get it as far as they can,” Eliza said.

Up until this point in time, the Valley has been mostly focussed on donating the necessities of life to farming families, but Judy said that recently people have been keen to contribute towards the starving animals too.

So the Club has decided to join in on the Macleay Hay Run, and is offering members and visitors the chance to buy a bale of hay at the bar for $20.

Both the Nambucca and Macksville Clubs will be collecting donations up until August 12, so you’ve still got time to help make a real difference.