A SOUTH East man will auction off prizes from a recent competition win to support communities affected by the recent Keilira bushfire.
Lucindale resident Peter Gill was the lucky winner of the Mount Gambier West Rotary Club’s annual raffle, with prizes including a trailer, tools, a lawnmower and electrical products.
Mr Gill was announced as the winner just before Christmas, but was unable to collect the prize straight away.
Just days later, the Keilira bushfire ravaged parts of the region, killing livestock and destroying properties and farmland.
With this in mind, Mr Gill decided to donate part of his prize to be auctioned to benefit the impacted community.
“He realised there were items in the trailer that he would not use,” raffle coordinator David Muller said.
“So he decided he would auction them off to raise money for the fire affected farmers through the footy club.
“It is so great to see the prize go even further and put even more money back into the community.”
Mr Muller said Mr Gill also had plans to put a firefighting unit on the trailer for future security.
The Rotary raffle has raised more than $100,000 for the Mount Gambier club over the 25 years it has been held.
After discussions through the raffle committee, the money from this year’s raffle has been put towards charities including Foodbank, Sunset Kitchen, Lifeline and Uniting Care.
“We gave $1000 each to the charities as well as another $500 to the ac.care truck show,” Mr Muller said.
“We have roughly $6500 to donate back into the community from each raffle after the cost of prizes and things, so we do have a little left over yet.
“We have not made final decisions where it will go yet but there is ideas of it going towards fuel for fodder for farming regions in drought or affected by the fires.”
With the popular raffle selling out each year, Mr Muller stressed the importance of the community involving themselves with service clubs.
“It is always important for young people and new members to come on board,” he said.
“We always welcome new people, but you do not have to join Rotary, there are plenty of ways to give back to the community.
“The importance of these things are shown when we get this much support and we are able to give it back to the region.”
