Pakenham Uniting Church minister Dick Johnston took a ute laden with food and other gifts to spread cheer in the droughtravaged Mallee.By Paul Dunlop
RAIN is often all too rare for many farmers in farflung reaches of Victoria, but the generosity of Pakenham people is plentiful.
Uniting Church minister Dick Johnston last week loaded his ute with food and household items donated by local parishioners and drove up to the Mallee to spread goodwill around droughtravaged communities.
Rev Johnston left last Thursday to spend a few days among the farmers and townspeople of Sea Lake and Berriwillock.
He told the Gazette after returning on Monday that the trip had been worthwhile.
“It was really good, very well received,” he said.
“People are really doing it tough up there. The idea was to go up and see if we could lend a bit of a hand,” Rev Johnston said.
Uniting Church ministers and other community representatives from around the region came together recently to discuss ways to respond to some of the problems being experienced in droughtaffected areas of country Victoria.
In a planned day of listening, the church hear about the needs of people in farflung areas many hours from the city.
Rev Johnston, who lived and worked in the Mallee town of Nyah West before he came to Pakenham, said a lot of communities in that area did not have a Uniting Church Minister. Even the Rural City of Mildura, population 50,000, does not have one.
“Isolation can be a big problem up there, in terms of distances in Victoria you can’t get much further away,” Rev Johnston said. “People relate more to Adelaide than Melbourne because it is closer.
“The tyranny of distance bites hard and it’s not just farmers as well. When times are bad, entire communities operate on credit and everybody does it tough.”
Rev Johnston said the Pakenham community had responded eagerly to his offer to fill the ute with items and take goodwill on the road.
“People here are just so generous. I’ve been given food, clothing and all sorts of other gifts to take. Whenever there is a need, local people seem to respond.”
Rev Johnston said it was possible Pakenham’s Uniting Church could establish a link with a country parish. He said any help he could bring was not too much to ask.
“People need to know they’re not on their own, we’re thinking of them,” he said.
