Throughout January, $5 from each sale of the popular dish was put aside to support those affected by the widespread blazes in Victoria, resulting in an impressive $6500 raised in about two weeks.
Manager David Bushell estimated about 1200 parmigianas left the kitchen after the fundraiser was announced, with extra money raised from a donation jar at the hotel.
“Customers were actually coming in because they’d seen it advertised... people really wanted to support it,” he said.
Unsure where exactly to allocate the money, Allen Watson, who recently organised a large hay bale delivery to farming communities impacted by the Longwood bushfire, was recommended.
“I’ve been up Mathoura way for 54 years and dealing with farmers all my life. I rang up seven farmers, and they donated the hay, their trucks and their time,” Mr Watson said.
The same number of semi-trailers loaded with the donations made their way to the Euroa area in late January, where Mr Watson said the response was “unreal”.
“They were bloody rapt. They put a barbecue on for us when we emptied, tipped them off, and we came home. It was a good day, good to help out,” he said.
Mr Watson will now make his way to farms around Katamatite and Yarroweyah, where 12 structures, including homes, were lost to a vicious grass fire in early January.
On Thursday, February 5, he was joined by hotel staff to load up a large trailer’s worth of fencing supplies from Hunters Echuca, which provided a generous discount for the effort.
Three farmers have been arranged to take the materials, which Mr Watson will deliver himself, to be used for repairs to scorched fencing.
Border Inn Hotel owner Rosie Powell said the team decided to allocate the money as locally as they could, and were glad to spend it on a specific initiative.
“We didn’t want to give it to a government body or something, where it goes who knows where,” she said.
“We wouldn’t have known what to do with it without Allen... we know it’s going personally somewhere now, so it’s really good.
“When you’re helpless, it makes you feel a bit better if you can do something about it.”
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