A community-led fundraiser in Woodend on January 18 raised more than $56,000 for victims of the recent Harcourt bushfire.
Local resident and Rock and Ranges Brewing Cooperative co-director Penny Morton said she felt compelled to help after the fires tore through Harcourt.
“We lost our beer in the fires at Harcourt Coolstore, so we held a meeting to work out what we were going to do,” Penny said. “But all I could think about was everyone else who lost their homes, their stock, and their animals.”
Just one week after the fire hit Harcourt, Penny and her team had already organised a fundraiser at the Vic Hotel.
“We had two kegs of beer that hadn’t been in the coolstore, and I thought, ‘Let’s do something good with those,’” she said. “Honestly, I thought maybe 20 people would show up to drink our beer.”
Things moved quickly from there.
“I went to see Emily at the Vic Hotel and told her my idea, and she said, ‘Absolutely, let’s do this’,” Penny said. “Then I spoke to Tom at 600 Above, a local wine store, and he donated back a whole order of our beer. It just snowballed.”
The team created a poster and shared it on social media, and before long the town stepped up in a big way.
“We were flooded with offers of items to donate and auction, and in the end about 1000 people came along,” Penny said.
Local businesses contributed hundreds of donations, while DJ Daniel Berger and musician Sean Francis both volunteered their time to keep the atmosphere buzzing. A few bagpipers from the City of Melbourne Pipe Band even joined the lineup.
“We ran a live auction with Matty Be, a silent auction and multiple raffles throughout the day… we even had a meat tray!” Penny joked.
“I’m so proud of our town for pulling this off in such a short space of time.”
