It has been wonderful and inspiring to see the way our Lake Macquarie community has responded recently to the plight of drought-stricken rural communities.
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Having grown up in the country, I know how hard life can be for our rural neighbours in times of drought and how encouraging it is to receive the support of those from the city.
On Saturday, people brought enough donated goods to Speers Point Park to fill eight trucks for the farmers and their families.
The community-driven Fill a Truck drive, which was organised informally on Facebook, went ‘viral’ as they say, as people opened their hearts and wallets to help those in need.
This was just one of many locally organised fundraising events that are assisting farmers and helping rural communities experiencing hardship.
If you would like to contribute, there are several other local activities coming up in the next few weeks:
- Morisset Show’s Drought Relief Fundraiser is on August 25 and 26 at Morisset Showground. They are taking donations of stockfeed, pet food and bottled water as well as cash or IGA gift cards. People can also make online donations.
- Belmont Citi Centre and Edgeworth Town Square are taking donations on behalf of Buy a Bale of Hay - Making a difference to Australian Farming Families and have drop-off points for donated goods within the shopping centres.
- Sing Australia is staging Sing Out for Farmers at the Belmont 16s on August 20 from 6pm with raffles, stalls, auctions and, of course, singing. Proceeds go to Buy a Bale.
You can find out more about these fundraising drives on the Facebook pages of the respective organisations.
Quality
WE ALL know Lake Macquarie is beautiful, but the recent results of our annual water testing program confirm how pristine our waterway actually is.
Water quality in Lake Macquarie is the best it has been since annual monitoring more than 20 years ago, with six of the seven zones tested across the lake and its major tributaries achieving an ‘A’ grade rating.
It is good to see council’s emphasis on projects to improve water quality, prevent erosion and improve biodiversity is having such a positive impact on water quality.