Last winter, District 9560's Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) committee chair Reg Pierce registered a drought project with the hope of raising $40,000 to help NSW farmers in need.

"We all joined Rotary, a humanitarian service organisation to do just that: serve our fellow man," Reg said. "This time it was in our backyard." 

Much to his delight, that figure had reached $1.1 million before Christmas and is due to increase by an additional $400,000 by the end of February.

"To exceed our initial goal was heartening. It meant the public were behind us."

The project is one that is close to home for the members of District 9650, as it covers a large part of the State including some of the worst affected areas. The district encompasses most of the far west of NSW, out as far as Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Wee Waa, Narrabri, Boggabri, Gunnedah, Moree, Warialda, Barraba, Manilla, Quirindi and Tamworth, where the drought has been biting hard

Fundraising efforts were put into place by individual clubs, including those in the Mid Coast region, which contributed $250,000 to the pot. This was doubled by a $250,000 contribution from a Channel Nine Telethon.

According to Reg, the first $500,000 was equally divided between the 32 Rotary clubs in the drought affected areas to distribute the best way they saw fit.

“They best know the people in the area who need it the most,” Reg explained. “We wanted to have sure the money went to the farmers who were truly in need.”

The funds were used in a range of ways, including vouchers, paying utility bills and even helping with mental health and family matters.

“Half a million sounds a lot,” Reg said. “But shared between 30 odd clubs, then broken down further to individuals, it really isn’t that much.”

So when the project received an additional $1 million from the Federal Government, it was full steam ahead to get the funds out to those in need. 

The Government funds have been provided to the RAWCS District 9650’s project in two payments. The first $600,000 was delivered just before Christmas, which was quickly distributed to farmers via gift cards first thing in the new year.

Reg explained how he had put out a call to each club in the drought affected areas for names of those who need a financial injection and from there, the gift cards were handed out.

Providing gift cards is a way of further filtering the funds into the communities, by allowing each farmer to spend the money locally, thus supporting the small business owners who have also been impacted by the drought.

The remaining $400,000 is due to arrive on February 28 and Reg is ready to go, with the names already on the envelopes.  

“We’ve learnt from the first tranche that we need to move quickly,” he said.

For this amazing group of Rotarians, the project continues until all funds are exhausted or it's shut down. 

"The drought will break some day, but hundreds of farmers, in dozens of communities will remember that when the going was tough, Rotary was there for them."

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