AUSSIE Helpers founder Brian Egan this morning said the organisation would soon distribute $2 million in prepaid Visa cards to 500 farming families across three states.
Mr Egan said the pre-paid cards would mean the money could be spent immediately and were a direct bid to breathe some life back into regional towns that were really struggling.
“Initially we were thinking of using cheques, but then they have to go through an account and farmers with big bank debts probably wouldn’t see a dollar of it, so that’s why we’re using pre-paid cards,” he said Monday morning from Charleville, Queensland.
He said who got the money was decided by volunteers working to help farmers and the decision had been taken across a period of months of engagement.
“We’re coming across people all the time living in third world conditions and want to help them,” he said.
Mr Egan said $1m worth of the cards would go to NSW farmers, $500,000 to Victoria and $500,000 to Queensland.
He said the charity had 16 people and four trucks working full-time on the ground in NSW, delivering hay, stockfeed, water and extra offerings, such as dog and chicken feed.
“More than 50 people registered for access to stockfeed at the weekend in NSW, mostly on Sunday,” he said.
“We can still get hay, we have people who grow it for us,” Mr Egan said.
