PRESS
RELEASE
CALLING
ALL TRUCKIES
Charleville,
Queensland Feb 15th 2009
The people of Queensland are deeply moved
and saddened by the tragic losses caused by the Victorian bushfires and
on-going drought and have poured out their hearts to the victims and their
families. Farmers in Queensland have generously donated $250,000 worth of stock feed for fire and drought affected farmers
in Victoria. There are currently 50 semi-trailer loads of feed waiting to be
delivered from the Toowoomba, Darling Downs region to an
Aussie Helpers staging posts in Denilquin NSW or Nathalia Vic.
Aussie
Helpers are looking for truckies or trucking
companies willing to donate their time and services to help deliver this feed
for Victorian primary producers many of whom are now fire and drought affected. Once the feed is delivered, Aussie
Helpers volunteers will distribute the fodder directly to various fire and
drought affected regions throughout Victoria using their own transport. This
can only work if feed can be shipped from Queensland in the first place.
Since Aussie
Helpers featured on “Australian Story” on the 26 March, 2007, the nation began
opening their hearts to this worthy charity. It was this program that brought
the reality of the current crisis in rural Australia to the lounge rooms of
urban areas.
Brian Egan is a veteran of the Indonesian
Confrontation and the Vietnam War who lost his own farm in the 1990s from a
combination of drought and personal depression. He and his wife Nerida are no
strangers to hard times. Brian and Nerida established Aussie Helpers on 21 May
2002 and now have some 40 volunteers working via the ever faithful
"Bush Telegraph" to find farming families in desperate need of
assistance. Aussie Helpers work around three words "care, share, respect"
which simply means that they care about people in need and will share
whatever assistance they have available free of charge and will give the
recipients the utmost respect and confidentiality.
Aussie Helpers raises all its own funding and
is not aligned to any other charity or religious organisations. It’s Aussies
helping Aussies; Unpaid volunteers making a real difference to the lives of
their fellow Australians lending a hand, an ear and a shoulder with those who
are doing it tough.
Contact
details:
Brian Egan: 0488 123 400 Head Office: 1300 665 232 24hrs
Email: admin@aussiehelpers.org.au Web: www.aussiehelpers.org.au
Registered Charity CH-1376