Vanessa Hawkins speaks with pride about the large team of volunteers who rallied to create the Nabiac Second Chance Op Shop drought appeal fundraiser. It raised $3250 over six days and the team is celebrating its success and also, the fact that it’s over.

“It was a mammoth effort!” Mrs Hawkins said.

Hallidays Point Lions Club representatives today happily accepted the donation and the club will direct the money to support farmers as they try to cope with the devastating impacts of drought.

Mrs Hawkins is thankful to the community for its support with the provision of additional goods to sell and for buying from the op shop.

“Donations went through the roof! What we would normally receive in a week we got in a day. It would come in waves, donations were piled at the door, and we were amazed by how much our small community gathered up for us to sell.”

Mrs Hawkins said volunteers heard “nothing but support” from people when they began to spread the news of the drought appeal fundraiser.

“Nabiac is only a small town but it’s the outlying and surrounding areas that’s our strength. Car loads of donations arrived and our volunteers also went as far as Bulahdelah to collect whole households of donated goods.”

At times the volunteers were a little overwhelmed by the volume of donations, but Mrs Hawkins said they simply worked through one bag at a time to get the items sorted and priced for sale.

“People were donating a lot of newer items and there was plenty of clothing with price tags on them.”

The decision to use social media to promote the fundraiser saw people travel from all over the region to donate and shop.

“There were lots of new faces donating and shopping, it was wonderful.”

The Nabiac Second Chance Op Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to noon.