Picture: J.L. “FRED” SMITH
THE spreading COVID-19 virus has prompted the cancellation of the popular refreshment stop on the Princes Highway near Millicent this long weekend.
For the past 26 Easters, volunteers and members of the Wattle Range Road Safety Committee station alongside the Argyle CFS Shed and opposite Sebastopol Machinery Service as part of the driver reviver initiative.
Travellers have been supplied with free tea, coffee and biscuits from major sponsors and home-baked goods.
Committee member Sue Van der Heul has been involved in every driver reviver since the first in 1994 and has coordinated it for the past 20 years.
Ms Van der Heul said preliminary planning for the 2020 driver reviver had already started.
“We had given some thought to having the driver reviver only operate on Good Friday and Easter Monday,” Ms Van der Heul said.
“However, that would have defeated the purpose of the messages from the authorities not to travel.
“We are being discouraged from moving around.
“I had also heard from some of our regular volunteers who were uncomfortable manning the driver reviver this year.”
She said most of the volunteers at the driver reviver each year are in the upper age bracket and are considered as a high-risk group for contracting COVID-19.
Ms Van der Heul said she had yet to approach Millicent groups and businesses who support the driver reviver each year.
“However, donated goods from a major national sponsor such as biscuits, tea and coffee arrived here in Millicent about five weeks ago,” she said.
“Some of the goods like the biscuits will be out of date before our next driver reviver and so I have provided these to a local community group.”
