Generous donation to emergency service

IT’S often said volunteers are the backbone of their communities, and one group of volunteers has provided a generous donation to two others this month.

The Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary, who operate the Bacchus Marsh Hospital Op Shop on a voluntary basis, donated $20,000 each to both the Bacchus Marsh SES Unit and Coimadai Fire Brigade this month.

Bacchus Marsh SES Unit Controller Mick Schembri thanked the Ladies Auxiliary for their support, and said the donation was greatly appreciated.

“The donation received from the Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary is the largest single donation the Unit has received, and will go a long way to fitting out our new rescue truck,” he said.

“The Unit have been fundraising for a number for years to purchase and fit out Rescue 2, with delivery expected in the next few weeks.

“The money from the Ladies Auxiliary will go directly to funding the purchase of the “jaws of life” for this vehicle.

“Bacchus Marsh SES are extremely grateful for the donation, and we wish to thank Sarah and all the team at the Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary for the hard work they do to support volunteer organisations within Bacchus Marsh.”

Mr Schembri said the new truck would increase the capability of the Unit and “ensure our town has the latest equipment available to support our first responders”.

While the bulk of proceeds from the Bacchus Marsh Op Shop go to the Bacchus Marsh Hospital, the volunteer Ladies Auxiliary do fund community groups as well.

President of the Ladies Auxiliary, Sarah Tollis, said recent storms and fires had emphasised what a fantastic job local emergency services do, and how worthy of funding they are.

“We just felt with all the natural disasters going on, local emergency services are always in need of money. So we got together as a group and decided we’d give the SES and Coimadai Fire Brigade $20,000 each,” she said.

“It is hard to pick which groups to fund. 99 per cent of our proceeds go to the Bacchus Marsh Hospital for equipment.

“We’re grateful to the community for giving us all the lovely donations. It’s a win-win…we have a lot of regular customers, especially with the cost of living.

“We have some great options other than buying brand new, and then it’s not going into landfill. We are choosy with what we sell as well, it’s in good nick.”