Banding together for drought relief
Northern Grampians Shire individuals and groups have banded together to help drought-affected farmers in New South Wales and Queensland.
Led by Hendy Transport owner Troy Hendy, 85 pallets of out-of-date frozen hot cross buns due to be destroyed at IGA supermarkets’ warehouse in Laverton will make their way to drought-stricken farmers, repurposed as animal feed.
Mr Hendy’s innovative idea to give the buns a second life has led him to transporting them to Talbalba Station, two and a half hours south-east of Cunnamulla, Queensland.
Mr Hendy said three drought-affected farms in the area would benefit from the idea.
“When the warehouse rang me saying they had 85 pallets of hot cross buns leftover, I said I could probably do something with them,” he said.
“Rather than have them being dumped in landfill, which would have come at a fair cost to IGA, it’s great to be able to repurpose them in this way.”
Mr Hendy met the owners of Talbalba Station, Peter and Jo Warren, through his participation with Burrumbuttock Hay Runners, a group of farmers and truck drivers who donate their time and vehicles to deliver hay to drought-affected areas in NSW and Queensland.
Farmers will pick up the buns from Talbalba Station, along with cotton seed and grape marc Mr Hendy also delivered.
Northern Grampians Shire mayor Tony Driscoll congratulated Mr Hendy on his efforts. He also thanked IGA Supermarkets for donating the buns, St Arnaud Football Club for helping ‘de-package’ them, Andrew Weir for use of his JCB loader and Eco Swish for the cardboard packaging.
“It’s a marvelous community effort to help those people who are in desperate need of some relief at the moment,” he said.
“We’re very proud of our community and of course we commend Troy for his efforts and generosity.”