By Derek Schlennstedt
On Saturday 6 May, Yarra Glen CFA travelled to Trida Fire Brigade Station in Gippsland to drop off a truckload of donations from the Yarra Glen community to assist dairy farmers with living expenses.
The ‘food for farmers’ collection was launched in February by the Yarra Glen CFA and was aimed at donating items and food to dairy farmers in Gippsland, who had been affected by the closure of National Dairy Products in November last year.
Donating hundreds of non-perishable foodstuffs and toiletries, and dry food for their pets, the Yarra Glen community rose to the challenge.
Louise Higgins, community safety co-ordinator for Yarra Glen CFA said it was an incredible turn-out of donations and thanked the community for their help.
“Local bakeries took in donations, the pre-school took in donations, the community really pulled together to donate and help another community.”
She hoped that the donations would help farmers who had been affected by the low pricing of milk.
“Just giving them a bit of a helping hand – living is not cheap, especially if you have a change in circumstances things can become a little bit difficult.
“If we can support them in some way we felt that this way was the best way of helping them,” she said.
The Yarra Glen Brigade also donated a TV, printer and laptop to help the Trida Fire Brigade in Gippsland.
The Yarra Glen CFA said they were overwhelmed by the response of the donations and thanked everyone in the community for their generosity including Good Guys, Chirnside Park and Radio Rentals, Lilydale who also donated their time and services.
