A Hunter organisation has led a mission to take much-needed food to the bush.
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The biggest Aussie Care operation to supply food to drought-stricken NSW farmers this year got under way in Thornton on Thursday as a truck laden with six giant pallets took to the road.
At a cost of $10,000, the Thornton-based charity was to unload cereals and food at its first stop in Gilgandra on Thursday night.
On Friday, the mission continued to Walgett, to Lightning Ridge and to the little town of Goodooga.
Aussie Care’s national co-ordinator Peter West said the food was handed over to a rural counsellor in Bourke on Saturday.
Mr West said the counsellor would distribute the goods to those who needed it most.
“This operation to help those suffering drought is our biggest disaster relief trip in NSW this year,” Mr West said.
“We have combined with Rotary to take supplies to people in need.
“And the key to success is being able to work with local people, finding out what they need and getting our resources from our warehouse directly to them.”
Mr West said he was to meet several church ministers who would appraise him of people’s needs and where they were.
“Apart from basic supplies, we are even taking chocolate wafer biscuits as a bit of a treat for those doing it so tough,” he said.
“It’s not just about taking food to hungry people.
“We want them to know people in the cities are also thinking of them and doing something about it.”
Mr West said that during the past 18 months, Aussie Care, which dealt with disaster relief, and Ozzie Care, which helps local people, had given food worth $150,000 to those in need.
“Of that amount, around $30,000 in food has been given to needy families in the Maitland-Thornton area alone,” Mr West said.
“Most of us can’t comprehend drought where we live, but I have been told that in Gilgandra alone, the hopelessness of many farmers is a great concern to all.
“Each place we stop at will receive two large pallets of food to show that people from the Maitland-Thornton area care.”