Two Junee women have banded together to give the gift of hope to the region's firefighters in the wake of devastating bushfires.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rally for the RFS was the brainchild of friends Tearnna Mitchell and Madison Quinn who, with the support of the community, raised well over one thousand dollars for the Junee Fire Brigade.
"We just wanted to do something to help, and mum had a similar idea - she works at the Loco Hotel - so she pitched it to them and they were all for it," Miss Mitchell said.
In total, Miss Mitchell said they raised $1800 cash with more on the way.
"That money was from all the raffles we did and donations, but we're still waiting one more donations from some business around town and hopefully Holden will come on board too," she said.
"[Holden] are looking to sponsor the local firies who have struggled to get a single vehicle - if they do want one, they have to lose a truck and at the moment they only have three - so Holden are keen to get them a vehicle."
Miss Quinn added the local fire brigade simply "could not afford to lose a truck" so the sponsorship from Holden would mean a lot. "The newest one they have is already 10 years old so they get all the hand-me-downs from everywhere else and they were showing me where parts of the trucks were all melted and ruined from heat and flames," she said.
The fundraising event took place on January 25 at Junee's Loco Hotel.
"We had a lot of people show up and heaps of little ones," Miss Mitchell said. "The firies backed their truck in so the kids could check out all the gear and they set up targets for them to hit off with the big fire hose."
With everything from jumping castle, bull riding and bungee runs to lolly bags, face painting and live music, there was plenty of entertainment for all ages.
A raffle saw "every single business approached say 'yes' to a donation".
"One lady on the day of the event came in and dropped off a family ticket to Taronga Zoo, Cobbler Road gave a $100 gift voucher, the licorice factory donated a huge chocolate hamper which had about $200 worth of chocolate in it, and more," Miss Mitchell said.
Miss Quinn added they had a canvas donated from Struan Timms, and "another lady came in and dropped off $100 cash and left too, and it was all locals who won the raffles which was nice".
The Junee Fire Brigade were beyond thankful for everyone's efforts, according to Miss Quinn.
"Stewart and Paul from the fire brigade here were near in tears at what had been organised and how much Junee had given to support them," she said.