Thank you Aussie Helpers for your cheque for $3,400 to assist us with our project for new sports equipment and appropriate shelving and storage of the equipment
Community Lifestyles South Australia
We are writing this letter to say a BIG BIG THANKYOU for your generous donations and continued support you have shown our family and community during this drought. The feed recently allocated has been a huge help and has meant that we can continue to feed our breeding stock. Without the generosity and understanding and care you provide you keep the community spirit unbroken.
Tasmania
We were not expecting all of this help that you have given us. It is so nice to know that there are people out there who are willing to help total strangers in times of hardship. We haven't got much left on our farm due to the drought and financial hardship but like many others we will continue to work hard and be thankful for what we have left. The help that you have provided us for all our animals and our family has overwhelmed us and we will be forever grateful.
North West Victoria
Thursday was no ordinary day, it was a day that put many smiles on a lot of faces here in Bunaloo NSW. We could hardly believe that this was happening. Getting all this feed for our starving stock, when paddocks are so bare, it gave us a push to keep on going and then to have all those household items as well, many thanks, Australia is called the lucky country and this is so true, thank you Aussie Helpers.
South Western NSW
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When I first contacted Aussie Helpers I was at a very low point and desperately looking for assistance, I never expected to have such an immediate answer to our prayers. I'm not sure I even expected an answer. I was at wits end. The kindness and support that you have extended to us is a wonderful community service. Only people such as yourselves could begin to understand what your generosity of spirit means to those in the farming community at this time.
Just a short note to thank you sincerely for you generous help when we needed it. The fact that an organisation such as Aussie Helpers exists with out all the HOO-HA and resource waste is a comfort in itself but to actually deliver real help lifts our spirits and restores our faith in human nature.
Meeting you and seeing you on the road has left me in a more positive frame of mind.
After the good-byes have been said and the dust settles, the over whelming emotions hit home. I did not think that anything could make me feel like things could look up for the better but I was wrong - as Brian pointed out out I was smiling again.
" We appreciate the assistance you have given our family. Groceries and things for the kids are most appreciated and more recently the load of hay and bags of protein feed that Brian organised for our weakest cattle proved invaluable. Not only is it the material assistance you provide but the understanding and genuine sympathy that goes with it that we truly appreciate."
"Thank you for the round bales of hay, we have now weaned our heifers, the steer portion was sold...The hay we received was supplemented with lucerne hay fed at half the normal rate because of the generosity of Aussie Helpers and now 12 days after weaning have a paddock of happy heifers.
"I want to also...not only tell Aussie Helpers that this is the first time I have ever received a helping hand that at other times when people extended their generosity we were simply focussed on the welfare of the stock that depended on us and would have felt uncomfortable not being at home feeding mulga scrub."
We got a visitor the other day - a lone driver who looked like he'd done some miles. A truck loaded down with hay, it looked proud to have made it so far out west. The dust poured out of the wheels as they pulled up. A handshake, and quiet "how are ya mate, got some stuff for you". So we invite him in for lunch - that's what you do when it's meal time out here. Over lunch he listened as we told of no rain, and no hope of help from anyone, and worse than that, the hindrances the government are offering and the fears that brings. He mentioned he had "a few things" in his truck "something to cheer you up" he said - we didn't even need to exchange glances, my husband and I - we knew there'd be a paltry offering of some soap or a voucher for tea, wrapped in a glossy newsletter that tells you all's well with the world in 15 languages. Then we all trooped out to see these offerings from afar. And we are still getting over the shock. Boxes and boxes of groceries, and hay to feed sheep through shearing, and lick blocks to give strength to animals ravaged by lack of feed. So we ask - is this Santa? No, Brian from Aussie Helpers is much better than Santa. Brian knows we're hurting and just quietly hands out his goodies without false good cheer. He asks how you are going, then listens for the answer - a very rare occurrence these days. Those eyes have seen many heartaches, yet still search for signs of what else might help. and he makes you feel there is a reason to fight on - that there is someone in the great wide "out there" fighting alongside us, and not against us. So thank you all so much Aussie Helpers, because we're sure that to be able to bring out help like that, Brian must have a team of better-than-Santa's-elves working behind the scenes, and also some fantastic people who donated money or goods to give away. There's no way we could really explain how we feel, so we'll just say thanks, and hope that'll do.
" It was so astonishing and overwhelming to receive your gifts yesterday. The biggest cost of the on going drought is depression which is usually hidden to the outside world. I think a good season would turn my husband into a different man. Please know that your kindness will never be forgotten, gestures like yours make you retain your faith in human nature and keep you from self pity. "
"The drought has affected the whole community especially the small businesses and rural workers. Alongside of us, they are hurting as well. Our family enterprise doesn't have need for them at the moment. We are sometimes touched by our city cousins generosity such as the Farmhand appeal but we have never been so overwhelmed as we were the day before Easter when an Aussie Helpers truck arrived with a huge load of hay. We cannot believe that there are such selfless people around who are giving so much time (and cost to themselves) to help us Bushies.
I wish that all the volunteers involved could see the smile on the faces of my poddies as they munched through their food parcels. Thank You from the Bottom of our Hearts. "
