The Mudgee Guardian spoke to Kelly Dray and Glenn Box about the future of 200Bales

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What started as a movement to deliver bales of hay to struggling farmers has rocketed past its initial goal of 200 bales to drought-affected farmers and shows no signs of slowing down.

When the Mudgee Guardian wrote a story on the success of the 200Bales movement just last week on July 24, organiser Glenn Box was ecstatic with having shipped 156 bales at an estimated value of $31,000.

At 1.30pm on Thursday, that total exploded to over 600 bales on 100 trucks with an estimated value exceeding $100,000, an average of approximately 50 bales donated every day since last week.

The Mudgee Guardian spoke again with Glenn Box and marketing manager for 200Bales, Kelly Dray about what the past week has brought and if donations show any signs of decline.

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Kelly and Glenn share a hearty laugh when we quote the 156 bales number, both knowing how small that number seems now compared to where they’re at currently.

Exponential growth

When asked about the movement’s rapid growth, Glenn was pragmatic.

“It’s like everyone in the Mid-Western Region community were just sitting back waiting for something to come along that they could jump on,” Glenn said.

“We certainly had no idea that that was the case when we went hunting for the first dozen or so bales. It was more of a case of see what’s there and hopefully people had a common feel about it too.

“Then the businesses started to get on board, then the clubs and independent fundraisers came along; these people are taking it upon themselves to fundraise and get it done straight away.

“We couldn’t have come to this result if we had planned it.”

Kelly Dray knows how strong the community network has been.

“There’s connections all over the place, there’s so many people that know somebody on the land and everybody wishes they could make a difference to these people who are suffering so badly,” Kelly said.

“It felt so overwhelming to them and Glenn has created a vessel that they could just thrown an affordable amount at and it’s just exploded.”

Since the initial success of 200Bales, local fundraisers have started happening at a regular pace, only adding to the donation tally.

Most recently, the Mudgee Golf Club held a fundraising night on Wednesday, August 1 and raised $3600 form attendees which equates to 18 bales.

Glenn and Kelly are optimistic about the future of 200Bales and are already throwing ideas around about what comes next.

“I think we will do it as long as the community wants to keep doing it and until the donations stop coming in,” Kelly said.

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“It’s important to explain to everyone, that once that fodder supply is gone it’s a matter of having something else. 

Because if the community's money is there it has to be turned into feed, that’s the bottom line, helping people” she said.

“So we’re looking at different products now like grains to support that and we may soon be needing a storage facility for some grain that’s nice and close to town.”

Glenn agrees, knowing the community will always be looking for ways to help.

“Whatever the future is, whether that’s something like bags of grain, we want to keep it as simple as it’s always been.” he said.

From the outside it might look like the 200Bales initiative and its social media grew to its large size overnight, but the truth is there’s a lot of hard work going on and clever decisions being made behind the scenes.

Kelly and Glenn credit each other with the respective successes in their fields.

“Glenn was extremely smart, having the foresight to make a bale $200,” Kelly said.

“He knew that was about the cost of transporting a bale and that increments too small, like $20, would make for an impossible paper trail.

“It had to be super simple for everyone, from the person making the donation to the volunteer getting the hay on the back of their truck.”

Just as Glenn knew the perfect price for a donation – to the page’s credit – Kelly knows her stuff on social media.

“The way the Facebook group grew and was updated regularly was amazing,” Glen said.

“The trucks being loaded with the hay and the way that Kelly just threw new information on the page made everyone feel really involved and gave everyone that sense of ownership that they deserved.

Both of them know that in the end, the real stars are the people that’ve been behind them all the way.

“We’ve only just steered it, we’re just dot connectors. It’s the community that’s been behind it all.”

An oft-repeated adage is that farmers are ‘too proud’ to ask for help when they need it.

Glenn and Kelly say that while it’s true for some, others have made the positive move to call and ask for assistance.

“People are sometimes far too proud to admit it or they’re honestly just so broken that they don’t even think of the possibility of the fact that they would even receive help,” Glenn said.

“We even had someone that’s been offended by the phone call, though they were certainly appreciative of the community’s involvement.

“Everyone who get the phone call is really appreciative that they’ve been thought of.

“The people that have knocked back support so far have been the farmers who have their supply to get them through the next 4-8 weeks.

“They decline the offer, but we keep them on the list so we can revisit them in a month or two but also so let them know they can ring us back.

“On the other side of that coin, we’ve heard from farmers that are at the end of their tether and so they’ve made that phone call that they need help.”

“You know, they’ve got kids getting up at four o’clock in the morning giving out what little feed they have left before school to try and keep the place alive, Kelly said.

“They’re the ones that make us tear up.”

One thing that both Glenn and Kelly wanted to stress is one simple message,

“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.”

“That’s an important message,” Kelly said.

“Even the people who dob their friends in, they feel really proud. Everybody wants to be a part of it somehow because it makes them feel like they’re making a difference.”

Email the editor: ben.palmer@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Glenn wants to remind people that it’s never too late.

“The message to people that are on the fence about donating is come and join us and make a difference.

“We’ve had one woman doorknock to raise enough for just one bale in her street, which I reckon is an awesome idea.”

And to anyone wondering how their donation has affected people so far,

“They should know that they absolutely have made a difference to somebody’s life, Kelly said.

“You don’t know how bad it is, they could be saving someone’s life or improving their mental health.”

When asked if they think they could crack 1000 bales, Glenn and Kelly are quick to answer.

Glenn, “Yep.”

Kelly, “Of course.”