After yet another year of crippling drought in 2015, EASE decided to raise some much needed funds to help support Central QLD farmers. EASE approached iconic Australian Charity Drought Angels hoping to assist them with their fundraising campaigns. The Drought Angels are a program of the Chinchilla Family Support Centre, an Australian not-for-profit charitable organisation run entirely by volunteers helping struggling farmers and farming communities coping with drought.
EASE were granted approval to fund-raise on behalf of the Drought Angels and word soon spread around town and then to throughout both state and national tool suppliers with EASE quickly becoming overwhelmed with offers of support and donations. These donations culminated in a huge Trailer Prize Pack valued at over $10,000. Tickets in the Trailer Prize Pack raffle first became available at the 2016 AgGrow Emerald Field Days event, and were sold to the public up until the prize raffle was drawn in early September. Together with raffle ticket sales EASE donated a portion of their sales made at the AgGrow event to help raise the total donation to over $14,000.
Local coal miner Stephen Bridgeman from Clermont was the lucky ticket holder to win the EASE / Drought Angels $10,000 Trailer Prize Pack! When Stephen came into EASE to collect his swag of prizes he shared a very nice story about where he was when he got the call to say he had won (see video below), congratulations again Stephen! Local singing legend and former contestant of Channel 9's 'The Voice' Sophie Phillis (pictured above with EASE Manager Scott Burnard) was the official raffle adjudicator - thanks again Sophie!
EASE would like to thank everyone who was a part of this very rewarding fundraising event - including all the local Emerald small businesses (Emerald Radiator Works, 1800Prints Emerald, Emerald Tigers RLFC & CQ Recreation & Travel Expo) who contributed a great deal of time and money. Thanks also to our generous state and national suppliers (HANS Car Trailers, PPK Firefly, RAMBOR Mining Equipment, Alemlube Australia, GLENCO Air & Power, HITACHI Power Tools, Beaver Brands, ProChoice Safety Gear, Saint-Gobain, FLEXOVIT, BAHCO, Werner Ladder Co., Sutton Tools, Nitto Kohki & KC Tools) whose donations made the Trailer Prize a fantastic draw card!
