Agricultural
15 March, 2023
Draft reins in $42k for police families
The Pittsworth Campdraft community has again shown how big its heart is, raising a whopping $42,500 for the families of the police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty at Wieambilla in December.
The funds raised from the one-off campdraft in late January were handed over this week to set up a fund for the families of constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow who were fatally shot along with a civilian in what has since been revealed as a religiously motivated attack.
Police officials from Toowoomba including Queensland’s Assistant Commissioner Charysse Pond attended a cheque presentation at the Pittsworth Showgrounds on Tuesday, along with local police.
Campdraft Association secretary Deb Standing said the event came together very quickly with everyone who heard about it, keen to get on board and show their support for the police involved as well as the police service in general.
“After that terrible incident we asked how we could show our local police... and we’ve got so many friends out in that Tara area too... that we are here and supporting them,” she said.
“Everyone wanted to be a part of it.
“Damian Curr is one of our amazing cattle donors and so he was on board from the start and then Macquarie Wagyu at Felton and Harrow came up with livestock for us, along with the Pentecost and Shepherd families.”
And then the entries quickly flooded in with 1300 nominations received in all.
“This was special,” Ms Standing said.
“People really wanted to help and we weren’t even going to ask for sponsorship but bingo - the major sponsors all came through for our drafts.
“The transport companies came forward and either gave us their trucks to drive or they gave us discount prices.
“We ended up with 770 first round runs and then on top of that we had 108 final runs.”
This meant more than 1200 head of cattle had to be on the ground for the three-day event.
“We had people come forward to help us run the bar, one of our sister clubs threw in $1000, one guy donated $500 over the bar,” Ms Standing said.
“We had a lot of people in tears.
“That compassion was amazing, it was one way we could all stand together and say hey, you first responders, we’re here for you.”
Assistant Commissioner Pond thanked the campdraft community for its incredible show of support and said the funds raised would be put into a fund set up for the families of the two police officers killed in December.
“It’s completely over-whelming for the families but it’s wonderful that they are able to hear and feel how much these communities care about the children they’ve lost,” she said.
