Drought and bushfire hit farmers are getting a much needed reprieve with recent bursts of rain, but charity groups say there's still an immense fight underway to make sure farmers are getting the support they need.
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Aussie Helpers organiser Katie O'Brien has been working to supply farmers and their properties with vital supplies from the Dubbo, NSW, depot since December of last year and says that while the recent rain has been a boon, there's still an incredible amount of work to be done.
"It's seven days a week, you hope that this role would be a 9 to 5, but it's not, that's just the nature of the beast, people need assistance and they need help," Ms O'Brien said.
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"We're from a farming community and everyone gets home late, so you get a lot of phone calls in the late hours of the day, I should turn my phone off, but I don't because that might be the call that someone really needs."
Eighty tonnes of pallets of feed moves through the depot a month, along with 50,000 litres of molasses byproduct and that's just the beginning of the work.
"It's crushed grain as well, dog and cat food, Akubra hats, workman's shoes, a lot of little things like that and coats and canned food, it's just a top up of everything people need," Ms O'Brien said.
"If they don't have to purchase those things, then that might free them up to purchase something else and keep buying local."
Aussie Helper's co-founder Brian Egan sadly passed away in January, but Ms O'Brien, who keeps his hat and jacket slung up in her office, believes his ideas are more important than ever.
"He wanted people to know we're proud of them and we believe in them and that farming is an industry that deserves our support."
Although the hardest work is carried out at the depot, Ms O'Brien considers some of the most consequential work her outreach efforts; visiting farmers at their drought-hit properties and talking with them.
"I go on the ground and I do the farm visits first and I assess their situation," Ms O'Brien said.
"They're more comfortable at home and they're more likely to be honest about their situation, a lot of them feel like they've failed and they haven't."
"A lot of our farmers are very stoic and people think of them as very tough and made of steel, but even they can crumble and they're often the ones that feel the fall the hardest, because they're taking on such a huge burden."
While the recent downpours have provided a morale boost for farmers doing it tough, the results for farmers on the ground are still mixed.
"It's a great reminder that it can rain and it's a fabulous start and it's let people work a bit of better country," Ms O'Brien said.
"It's still a gamble putting crop in, this is still what I'd call a tropical cycle, but we'll take as much as we get, I think I'm a lot happier fixing fences and washouts at the moment."
Ms O'Brien said that while much of the country's focus had shifted back to the droughts as the bushfires ravaging the state began to wither, she said it was important to remind people what was at stake.
"Everyone runs out of resources at a different time, but right now, to have the majority of our farming community still standing, it's a huge credit to the farmers," Ms O'Brien said.
"We're worth fighting for, we're worth supporting because at the end of the day, we're supplying key ingredients and produce for our country and our exports."
If you're in need of assistance, or would like to donate, visit https://aussiehelpers.org.au.