Rally to rev up relief

CARS and guitars will entertain residents at a Need for Feed rally to help bale out farmers stricken by drought and bushfire.
Casey and Cardinia Lions Clubs are organising an event at Akoonah Park in Berwick on 24 and 25 March.
Proceeds from the ‘Cars, guitars and stars’ effort will provide relief to Gippsland landholders whose properties have been devastated by drought and bushfire in recent months.
Organisers are looking for people to display their vintage and veteran cars with volunteers and tractors and items for a charity auction also being sought.
Berwick Lions Club vicepresident Graham Cockerell has spearheaded the relief effort, first reported in the Gazette in January.
Mr Cockerell, from Upper Beaconsfield, said he had been driven to do something by the harrowing images he saw on nightly news reports when the fires were at their peak just after Christmas.
“These people were already down on their knees struggling with the drought, and the fires have just about knocked them out,” Mr Cockerell said.
“Life should be all about helping other people. We’ve been through it before in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983, now it’s our turn to do something.”
Truckloads of hay have already been sent down to Gippsland farmers.
Anybody wishing to help out at Need for Feed can contact Graham on 5944 4111.