By Kyra Gillespie
Two Berwick mums have raised over $60,000 for farmers doing it tough.
Abbey Madden and Georgia Scanlan decided they wanted to do something locally towards Rural Aid Australia’s ‘Buy a Bale’ program.
“Georgia and I are just two mums who wanted to do something to make a difference,” Ms Madden said.
“We have quite a close connection with the cause; Georgia’s family are beef farmers and mine are wheat farmers, so most of the people who attended were people we knew and friends of friends.”
The event was held at The Independent in Gembrook on Thursday 4 October, where guests enjoyed a range of food and drinks including a glass of sparkling from a Prosecco van, cocktails by The Melbourne Gin Company and bountiful share plates created by The Independent’s talented chefs.
“Everything drunk and eaten on the night was donated.
“The whole night was just incredible; we had just over 130 guests and the place was just about bulging at the seams. We could have sold it twice over easily.
“The tickets sold out in 72 hours – we had to take it off social media in the first 15 minutes because it went off so quickly.
“The interest was universally in the cause, from the ticket sales, to the interest and support that we received to run the event.
“Everybody we spoke to about the event was instantly like: How can I help? It was truly amazing.”
Auction items included a donated piece from Australian artist David Bromley and a guitar signed by the likes of Jimmy Barnes, John Farnham and Slim Dusty.
They still have a signed grand final West Coast Eagles and Collingwood guernsey to auction off.
“The auction and silent auction alone made around $47,000. Then we raised a further $10,000 from the ticket sales and another $8,000 from the raffles. It’s so much more than we imagined.”
The entire event was organised in less than two months, and the whole setup in just six weeks.
“We had no time – our first meeting was on August 28. We wanted to do it while it was in the forefront of everyone’s mind and high in the media.
“We now want to make it an annual event.”
