WARRACKNABEAL residents and Wimmera Country Fire Authority members have helped raise more than $90,600 for a bushfire-affected community in north-east Victoria.
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Following the summer's bushfires, the group formed the Wimmera to Walwa Bushfire Relief Fund.
Warracknabeal Fire Brigade captain Cameron Whelan was among firefighters deployed to fight the blazes near Walwa and saw the destruction to surrounding farmland and livestock.
The Wimmera strike team was one of the first to be deployed to Tallangatta, south of Walwa, during the 2019-20 bushfires.
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Mr Whelan said the crew connected with the community and felt compelled to help.
Fundraisers included raffles, online auctions and a range of other events.
Mr Whelan said 100 per cent of profits went to the Walwa community.
"The generosity and the spirit our wider community showed was astounding, evidently personal donations were a large part of the donation total," he said.
"Others kindly donated their time, hay and machinery to help transport stock feed to the bushfire-affected area."
The relief fund organisers reached out to the Walwa Bush Nursing Hospital, which formed its own committee responsible for dispersing the money to where it was needed most.
This included helping people cover costs of fencing materials, insurance excesses and vet bills.
Mr Whelan said there was also a large number of vouchers for businesses in the area.
"Some of the money was donated to the local CFA brigade to help them replace one of their small vehicles and a local primary school was also a recipient to help with their student support activities," he said.
"Importantly, the funds have also been used by the bush nursing centre to provide a dedicated role assisting people affected by the bushfires to access relevant grants. Within a three-week period they were able to work with 11 families to get them grant funds they would otherwise have missed out on.
"To receive this amount of overwhelming support and donations to the Wimmera to Walwa Bushfire Relief Fund has been truly humbling and it has meant the world to the Walwa community."
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